Graduate School of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Tokyo Insitute of Technology, Nagatsuda 4259-B55, Midori-ku, Yokohama 226-8501, Japan.
Chem Asian J. 2013 Aug;8(8):1646-60. doi: 10.1002/asia.201300347. Epub 2013 May 22.
The design of artificial metalloenzymes has become an important topic in biological chemistry and inorganic chemistry due to the potential applications of artificial metalloenzymes in nanoscience and biotechnology. One of the general methods used to produce artificially metalloenzymes involves the encapsulation of non-natural metal cofactors within protein scaffolds. This method has been used in the construction of small artificial metalloproteins with high activity and selectivity. However, the important roles of protein assemblies have not yet been systematically investigated in this field, even though natural enzymatic systems employ protein assemblies as molecular scaffolds for elaborate enzymatic reactions. In recent years, the above-mentioned general strategy has been applied to functionalize protein assemblies such as protein cages and protein crystals. These assembled structures form confined interior environments, which can be used to accommodate metal complex catalysts and to prepare metal nanoparticles. The development of artificial metalloenzymes with hierarchically-assembled proteins would enable us to provide powerful tools for industrial and biological applications. In this Focus Review, we discuss the most significant recent research in this field as well as future directions.
由于人工金属酶在纳米科学和生物技术中的潜在应用，其设计已成为生物化学和无机化学的一个重要课题。一种用于产生人工金属酶的常用方法涉及将非天然金属辅因子封装在蛋白质支架内。该方法已用于构建具有高活性和选择性的小型人工金属蛋白酶。然而，尽管天然酶系统将蛋白质组装作为精巧酶反应的分子支架来使用，但该领域尚未系统地研究蛋白质组装的重要作用。近年来，上述通用策略已应用于对蛋白质笼和蛋白质晶体等蛋白质组装体进行功能化。这些组装结构形成受限的内部环境，可用于容纳金属配合物催化剂并制备金属纳米颗粒。具有分级组装蛋白质的人工金属酶的发展将使我们能够为工业和生物应用提供强大的工具。在本重点评论中，我们讨论了该领域最近的最重要研究以及未来的方向。
