Lecture: Computational design of self-assembling proteins and Protein-DNA nanowires

Time: Aug 24, 2018, 14:00 pm

Venue: Conference Room in Biotechnology Building

Speaker: MOU Yun (Kurt) Ph.D, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica

Abstract:

Biomolecular self-assemblies are of great interest to nanotechnologists because of their functional versatility and their biocompatibility. Over the past decade, sophisticated single-component nanostructures composed exclusively of nucleic acids, peptides and proteins have been reported, and these nanostructures have been used in a wide range of applications, from drug delivery to molecular computing. Despite these successes, the development of hybrid co-assemblies of nucleic acids and proteins has remained elusive. Here we use computational protein design to create a protein-DNA co-assembling nanomaterial whose assembly is driven via non-covalent interactions. To achieve this, a homodimerization interface is engineered onto the Drosophila Engrailed homeodomain (ENH), allowing the dimerized protein complex to bind to two double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) molecules. By varying the arrangement of protein-binding sites on the dsDNA, an irregular bulk nanoparticle or a nanowire with single-molecule width can be spontaneously formed by mixing the protein and dsDNA building blocks. We characterize the protein-DNA nanowire using fluorescence microscopy, atomic force microscopy and X-ray crystallography, confirming that the nanowire is formed via the proposed mechanism. This work lays the foundation for the development of new classes of protein-DNA hybrid materials. Further applications can be explored by incorporating DNA origami, DNA aptamers and/or peptide epitopes into the protein-DNA framework presented here.

Introduction:

About the Speaker: Mou Yun, Ph.D., received a bachelor's degree in National Taiwan University in 2004. He received his Ph.D. degree from California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA in 2014 with the main research interest in chemistry. From 2014 to 2017, he worked as a postdoctoral. Now he works in Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica. Representative work was published in Nature, Proc. Natl., Protein Express, J. Chin. Chem, and so on.

Contact: Professor Piao Hailong Phone: 82463004