Designer protein self-assembly: new forms for old functions
Max Ryadnov (National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, Middlesex, TW11 0LW, UK)
An ability to construct biological matter from the molecule up holds promise for applications ranging from smart materials to bespoke synthetic biologics. De novo protein design provides an effective tool to exploit time and length scales accessible to native self-assembling systems. The challenge persists in replicating biology synthetically, that is at will, and differentially, that is for a desired function at a given scale. It is said that synthetic forms may be new, but functions remain the same. Recent examples of re-purposing protein self-assembly for engineering synthetic viruses, cell-supporting matrices and responsive antimicrobials will be discussed.