Department of Chemistry, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA.
Nat Chem Biol. 2018 Mar;14(3):253-255. doi: 10.1038/nchembio.2550. Epub 2018 Jan 15.
Producing novel enzymes that are catalytically active in vitro and biologically functional in vivo is a key goal of synthetic biology. Here we describe Syn-F4, the first de novo protein that meets both criteria. Purified Syn-F4 hydrolyzes the siderophore ferric enterobactin, and expression of Syn-F4 allows an inviable strain of Escherichia coli to grow in iron-limited medium. These findings demonstrate that entirely new sequences can provide life-sustaining enzymatic functions in living organisms.
在体外具有催化活性且在体内具有生物功能的新型酶是合成生物学的一个关键目标。在这里，我们描述了 Syn-F4，这是第一个满足这两个标准的从头设计的蛋白质。纯化的 Syn-F4 可水解铁载体肠杆菌素，并且 Syn-F4 的表达使一种在缺铁培养基中无法生存的大肠杆菌菌株能够生长。这些发现表明，全新的序列可以为生物体提供维持生命的酶功能。
