Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Synthetic Biology Research Consortium, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive 4, Singapore 117585, Singapore.
Bioprocessing Technology Institute, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 20 Biopolis Way, #06-01, Singapore 138668, Singapore.
Biotechnol Adv. 2015 Jan-Feb;33(1):155-164. doi: 10.1016/j.biotechadv.2014.11.005. Epub 2014 Nov 18.
Synthetic fusion proteins can be designed to achieve improved properties or new functionality by synergistically incorporating multiple proteins into one complex. The fusion of two or more protein domains enhances bioactivities or generates novel functional combinations with a wide range of biotechnological and (bio)pharmaceutical applications. In this review, initially, we summarize the commonly used approaches for constructing fusion proteins. For each approach, the design strategy and desired properties are elaborated with examples of recent studies in the areas of biocatalysts, protein switches and bio-therapeutics. Subsequently, the progress in structural prediction of fusion proteins is presented, which can potentially facilitate the structure-based systematic design of fusion proteins toward identifying the best combinations of fusion partners. Finally, the current challenges and future directions in this field are discussed.
合成融合蛋白可以通过将多个蛋白协同地整合到一个复杂的结构中，来设计以达到改善性能或具有新功能的目的。通过将两个或更多的蛋白结构域融合，可以增强生物活性或产生具有广泛生物技术和（生物）制药应用的新的功能组合。在这篇综述中，我们首先总结了构建融合蛋白的常用方法。对于每种方法，我们都详细阐述了设计策略和所需的特性，并提供了生物催化剂、蛋白开关和生物治疗等领域的最新研究实例。随后，我们介绍了融合蛋白结构预测的进展，这可能有助于基于结构的融合蛋白系统设计，以确定融合伙伴的最佳组合。最后，我们讨论了该领域目前的挑战和未来的发展方向。
