Kline Enos C, Duong Rose, Wang Qin, Lutz Barry R
Department of Bioengineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
Biotechnol Biotechnol Equip. 2025;39(1). doi: 10.1080/13102818.2025.2457691. Epub 2025 Feb 2.
Phage-like particles (PLPs) are fabricated self-assembling nanoparticles derived from the structural elements of bacteriophages. These particles have biotechnological utility because of the ability to easily modify surface chemistry and compartmentalize nucleic acids or other materials. A consequential implementation of PLPs in diagnostics is as process controls in nucleic acid amplification tests, where control RNAs are packaged within the protein capsid and protected from degradation by RNases in the sample matrix. Key developments in PLP controls have enhanced the packing efficiency of RNAs into particles, reduced the complexity of their plasmid expression systems, and shifted purification from ultracentrifugation to affinity chromatography, producing progressively greater yields with higher purity. Expanding on prior improvements, this study establishes a revised set of plasmid vectors for (MS2) derived PLPs that streamline vector manipulations for rapid prototyping of new particles, provide validation of an alternative affinity tag for purification, and contributes a high-throughput low-volume spin column purification strategy. These advancements are combined with a novel internal fusion site in MS2 maturation protein A, a passive element of the MS2 capsid in prior PLP designs, that is capable of displaying polypeptides on the particles' surface. The functionality of the chimeric maturation protein's surface display is verified with an affinity tag fusion and subsequent purification. This advancement increases the number of available peptide display sites for the MS2 PLP platform with wide-ranging implications for future applications.
噬菌体样颗粒(PLPs)是源自噬菌体结构元件的自组装纳米颗粒。这些颗粒具有生物技术应用价值,因为它们能够轻松修饰表面化学性质并将核酸或其他物质分隔开来。PLPs在诊断中的一个重要应用是作为核酸扩增测试中的过程控制,其中对照RNA被包装在蛋白质衣壳内,并受到样品基质中核糖核酸酶的保护而不被降解。PLP对照的关键进展提高了RNA装入颗粒的效率,降低了其质粒表达系统的复杂性,并将纯化方法从超速离心转变为亲和色谱,从而以更高的纯度获得了更高的产量。在先前改进的基础上,本研究建立了一套用于源自MS2的PLPs的修订质粒载体,这些载体简化了载体操作以便快速构建新颗粒的原型,验证了一种用于纯化的替代亲和标签,并提供了一种高通量低体积的旋转柱纯化策略。这些进展与MS2成熟蛋白A中的一个新的内部融合位点相结合,MS2成熟蛋白A是先前PLP设计中MS2衣壳的一个被动元件,它能够在颗粒表面展示多肽。通过亲和标签融合和随后的纯化验证了嵌合成熟蛋白表面展示的功能。这一进展增加了MS2 PLP平台上可用的肽展示位点数量,对未来应用具有广泛影响。