Explore the vast range of titles available.

We have developed a system for producing a supramolecular scaffold that permeates the entire Escherichia coli cytoplasm. This cytoscaffold is constructed from a three-component system comprising a bacterial microcompartment shell protein and two complementary de novo coiled-coil peptides. We show that other proteins can be targeted to this intracellular filamentous arrangement. Specifically, the enzymes pyruvate decarboxylase and alcohol dehydrogenase have been directed to the filaments, leading to enhanced ethanol production in these engineered bacterial cells compared to those that do not produce the scaffold. This is consistent with improved metabolic efficiency through enzyme colocation. Finally, the shell-protein scaffold can be directed to the inner membrane of the cell, demonstrating how synthetic cellular organization can be coupled with spatial optimization through in-cell protein design. The cytoscaffold has potential in the development of next-generation cell factories, wherein it could be used to organize enzyme pathways and metabolite transporters to enhance metabolic flux.

An ability to mimic the boundaries of biological compartments would improve our understanding of self-assembly and provide routes to new materials for the delivery of drugs and biologicals and the development of protocells. We show that short designed peptides can be combined to form unilamellar spheres approximately 100 nanometers in diameter. The design comprises two, noncovalent, heterodimeric and homotrimeric coiled-coil bundles. These are joined back to back to render two complementary hubs, which when mixed form hexagonal networks that close to form cages. This design strategy offers control over chemistry, self-assembly, reversibility, and size of such particles.

Modules that switch protein-protein interactions on and off are essential to develop synthetic biology; for example, to construct orthogonal signaling pathways, to control artificial protein structures dynamically, and for protein localization in cells or protocells. In nature, the E. coli MinCDE system couples nucleotide-dependent switching of MinD dimerization to membrane targeting to trigger spatiotemporal pattern formation. Here we present a de novo peptide-based molecular switch that toggles reversibly between monomer and dimer in response to phosphorylation and dephosphorylation. In combination with other modules, we construct fusion proteins that couple switching to lipid-membrane targeting by: (i) tethering a ‘cargo’ molecule reversibly to a permanent membrane ‘anchor’; and (ii) creating a ‘membrane-avidity switch’ that mimics the MinD system but operates by reversible phosphorylation. These minimal, de novo molecular switches have potential applications for introducing dynamic processes into designed and engineered proteins to augment functions in living cells and add functionality to protocells. The ability to dynamically control protein-protein interactions and localization of proteins is critical in synthetic biological systems. Here the authors develop a peptide-based molecular switch that regulates dimer formation and lipid membrane targeting via reversible phosphorylation.

Computational protein design is advancing rapidly. Here we describe efficient routes starting from validated parallel and antiparallel peptide assemblies to design two families of α-helical barrel proteins with central channels that bind small molecules. Computational designs are seeded by the sequences and structures of defined de novo oligomeric barrel-forming peptides, and adjacent helices are connected by loop building. For targets with antiparallel helices, short loops are sufficient. However, targets with parallel helices require longer connectors; namely, an outer layer of helix–turn–helix–turn–helix motifs that are packed onto the barrels. Throughout these computational pipelines, residues that define open states of the barrels are maintained. This minimizes sequence sampling, accelerating the design process. For each of six targets, just two to six synthetic genes are made for expression in Escherichia coli . On average, 70% of these genes express to give soluble monomeric proteins that are fully characterized, including high-resolution structures for most targets that match the design models with high accuracy. An efficient computational pipeline starting from validated peptide assemblies has been used to design two families of α-helical barrel proteins with functionalizable channels. This rationally seeded computational protein design approach delivers soluble, monomeric proteins that match the design targets accurately and with high success rates.

Differential sensing attempts to mimic the mammalian senses of smell and taste to identify analytes and complex mixtures. In place of hundreds of complex, membrane-bound G-protein coupled receptors, differential sensors employ arrays of small molecules. Here we show that arrays of computationally designed de novo peptides provide alternative synthetic receptors for differential sensing. We use self-assembling α-helical barrels (αHBs) with central channels that can be altered predictably to vary their sizes, shapes and chemistries. The channels accommodate environment-sensitive dyes that fluoresce upon binding. Challenging arrays of dye-loaded barrels with analytes causes differential fluorophore displacement. The resulting fluorimetric fingerprints are used to train machine-learning models that relate the patterns to the analytes. We show that this system discriminates between a range of biomolecules, drink, and diagnostically relevant biological samples. As αHBs are robust and chemically diverse, the system has potential to sense many analytes in various settings. Differential sensing aims to mimic senses such as taste and smell through the use of synthetic receptors. Here, the authors show that arrays of de novo designed peptide assemblies can be used as sensor components to distinguish various analytes and complex mixtures.

In coiled-coil (CC) protein structures α-helices wrap around one another to form rope-like assemblies. Most natural and designed CCs have two–four helices and cyclic (C n ) or dihedral (D n ) symmetry. Increasingly, CCs with five or more helices are being reported. A subset of these higher-order CCs is of interest as they have accessible central channels that can be functionalised; they are α-helical barrels. These extended cavities are surprising given the drive to maximise buried hydrophobic surfaces during protein folding and assembly in water. Here, we show that α-helical barrels can be maintained by the strategic placement of β-branched aliphatic residues lining the lumen. Otherwise, the structures collapse or adjust to give more-complex multi-helix assemblies without C n or D n symmetry. Nonetheless, the structural hallmark of CCs—namely, knobs-into-holes packing of side chains between helices—is maintained leading to classes of CCs hitherto unobserved in nature or accessed by design. Higher order coiled coils with five or more helices can form α-helical barrels. Here the authors show that placing β-branched aliphatic residues along the lumen yields stable and open α-helical barrels, which is of interest for the rational design of functional proteins; whereas, the absence of β-branched side chains leads to unusual low-symmetry α-helical bundles.

Bacterial microcompartments, BMCs, are proteinaceous organelles that encase a specific metabolic pathway within a semi-permeable protein shell. Short encapsulation peptides can direct cargo proteins to the lumen of the compartments. However, the fusion of such peptides to non-native proteins does not guarantee encapsulation and often causes aggregation. Here, we report an approach for targeting recombinant proteins to BMCs that utilizes specific de novo coiled-coil protein–protein interactions. Attachment of one coiled-coil module to PduA (a component of the BMC shell) allows targeting of a fluorescent protein fused to a cognate coiled-coil partner. This interaction takes place on the outer surface of the BMC. The redesign of PduA to generate an N-terminus on the luminal side of the BMC results in intact compartments to which proteins can still be targeted via the designed coiled-coil system. This study provides a strategy to display proteins on the surface or within the lumen of the BMCs. Bacterial microcompartments (BMCs) are protein-bound organelles encapsulating segments of metabolic pathways. Here the authors utilize specific de novo coiled-coil protein-protein interactions to display proteins on the outer or inner surface of BMCs.

The formation of quasi-spherical cages from protein building blocks is a remarkable self-assembly process in many natural systems, where a small number of elementary building blocks are assembled to build a highly symmetric icosahedral cage. In turn, this has inspired synthetic biologists to design de novo protein cages. We use simple models, on multiple scales, to investigate the self-assembly of a spherical cage, focusing on the regularity of the packing of protein-like objects on the surface. Using building blocks, which are able to pack with icosahedral symmetry, we examine how stable these highly symmetric structures are to perturbations that may arise from the interplay between flexibility of the interacting blocks and entropic effects. We find that, in the presence of those perturbations, icosahedral packing is not the most stable arrangement for a wide range of parameters; rather disordered structures are found to be the most stable. Our results suggest that (i) many designed, or even natural, protein cages may not be regular in the presence of those perturbations and (ii) optimizing those flexibilities can be a possible design strategy to obtain regular synthetic cages with full control over their surface properties.

De novo protein design is advancing rapidly. However, most designs are for single states. Here we report a de novo designed peptide that forms multiple α-helical-bundle states that are accessible and interconvertible under the same conditions. Usually in such designs amphipathic α helices associate to form compact structures with consolidated hydrophobic cores. However, recent rational and computational designs have delivered open α-helical barrels with functionalisable cavities. By placing glycine judiciously in the helical interfaces of an α-helical barrel, we obtain both open and compact states in a single protein crystal. Molecular dynamics simulations indicate a free-energy landscape with multiple and interconverting states. Together, these findings suggest a frustrated system in which steric interactions that maintain the open barrel and the hydrophobic effect that drives complete collapse are traded-off. Indeed, addition of a hydrophobic co-solvent that can bind within the barrel affects the switch between the states both in silico and experimentally. So far most of the de novo designed proteins are for single states only. Here, the authors present the de novo design and crystal structure determination of a coiled-coil peptide that assembles into multiple, distinct conformational states under the same conditions and further characterise its properties with biophysical experiments, NMR and MD simulations.

The α-helix is pre-eminent in structural biology 1 and widely exploited in protein folding 2 , design 3 and engineering 4 . Although other helical peptide conformations do exist near to the α-helical region of conformational space—namely, 3 10 -helices and π-helices 5 —these occur much less frequently in protein structures. Less favourable internal energies and reduced tendencies to pack into higher-order structures mean that 3 10 -helices rarely exceed six residues in length in natural proteins, and that they tend not to form normal supersecondary, tertiary or quaternary interactions. Here we show that despite their absence in nature, synthetic peptide assemblies can be built from 3 10 -helices. We report the rational design, solution-phase characterization and an X-ray crystal structure for water-soluble bundles of 3 10 -helices with consolidated hydrophobic cores. The design uses six-residue repeats informed by analysing 3 10 -helical conformations in known protein structures, and incorporates α-aminoisobutyric acid residues. Design iterations reveal a tipping point between α-helical and 3 10 -helical folding, and identify features required for stabilizing assemblies of 3 10 -helices. This work provides principles and rules to open opportunities for designing into this hitherto unexplored region of protein-structure space. A study demonstrates the rational de novo design of water-soluble assemblies constructed from long 3 10 -helical peptides, and details their characterization by circular dichroism spectroscopy, analytical ultracentrifugation and X-ray crystallography.