Research findings: protein "molecular cage" or adjuvant vaccine production

Young people's network news: Recently, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) biochemists prepared the largest protein ever, self-assembly into a "molecular cage" structure The study could boost the production of synthetic vaccines and protect people from flu, AIDS and other diseases The protein is hundreds of times smaller than human cells, but it could still facilitate the development of new methods to deliver drugs within cells, or to produce new nanomaterials The assembled protein, which is shaped like a cube, is constructed from 24 copies of a protein designed by Todd Yeates, a UCLA professor of chemistry and biochemistry This protein is porous, larger than any other assembly protein that has been created before, with a large opening, allowing other large protein molecules to enter and leave freely The study was recently published in the journal Nature chemistry Yeates, senior author of this paper, has been trying to construct complex and self-assembled protein structures since he first published the research on self-assembled proteins in 2001 In 2012, he and his colleagues created a self-assembled molecular cage made up of 12 proteins, which are perfectly combined like a puzzle Now they have been able to assemble this structure with 24 protein molecules At present, they are designing a molecular cage containing 60 protein molecules In general, building every larger protein presents new scientific challenges But larger protein structures also have greater potential to carry more "goods." Yeates' research is supported by NSFC and ucla-doe Institute of genomics and proteomics The first author, yen Ting Lai, who completed these studies when he was a graduate student at Yeates laboratory, is now a postdoctoral student at Arizona State University Yeates, who is also a member of UCLA's Department of genomics and proteomics, energy research and California nanosystems Institute, explained that in principle, these molecular structures should be able to carry goods and then release them into the cell However, the molecular cube may be too permeable to be used as a drug container, such as in the human body "But to make a more closed cage, the design principle is the same as our research," Yeates said He added that there are ways to make the cage less stable, and when it enters the cell, it releases its cargo molecules, such as toxins that kill cancer cells Yeates said his lab's approach could also boost the production of synthetic vaccines that would mimic how cells respond to viral infection This kind of vaccine will cause a strong response from the human immune system, and may provide better disease protection than the traditional vaccine At present, Yeates has carried out a study in cooperation with Peter Kwong, director of Structural Biology Department of the National Institutes of health and National Deputy Director of disease virus structural biology They will carry out a study to try to bind viral antigens to molecular cages.