Molecular Engineering of E. coli Bacterioferritin: A Versatile Nanodimensional Protein Cage.

ABSTRACT: Currently, intense interest is focused on the discovery and application of new multisubunit cage proteins and spherical virus capsids to the fields of bionanotechnology, drug delivery, and diagnostic imaging as their internal cavities can serve as hosts for fluorophores or bioactive molecular cargo. Bacterioferritin is unusual in the ferritin protein superfamily of iron-storage cage proteins in that it contains twelve heme cofactors and is homomeric. The goal of the present study is to expand the capabilities of ferritins by developing new approaches to molecular cargo encapsulation employing bacterioferritin. Two strategies were explored to control the encapsulation of a diverse range of molecular guests compared to random entrapment, a predominant strategy employed in this area. The firs

SUBMITTER: van der Ven AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10301331 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature