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Creation of Hybrid Nanorods From Sequences of Natural Trimeric Fibrous Proteins Using the Fibritin Trimerization Motif

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Nanostructure Design

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology™ ((MIMB,volume 474))

Summary

Stable, artificial fibrous proteins that can be functionalized open new avenues in fields such as bionanomaterials design and fiber engineering. An important source of inspiration for the creation of such proteins are natural fibrous proteins such as collagen, elastin, insect silks, and fibers from phages and viruses. The fibrous parts of this last class of proteins usually adopt trimeric, β-stranded structural folds and are appended to globular, receptor-binding domains. It has been recently shown that the globular domains are essential for correct folding and trimerization and can be successfully substituted by a very small (27-amino acid) trimerization motif from phage T4 fibritin. The hybrid proteins are correctly folded nanorods that can withstand extreme conditions. When the fibrous part derives from the adenovirus fiber shaft, different tissue-targeting specificities can be engineered into the hybrid proteins, which therefore can be used as gene therapy vectors. The integration of such stable nanorods in devices is also a big challenge in the field of biomechanical design. The fibritin foldon domain is a versatile trimerization motif and can be combined with a variety of fibrous motifs, such as coiled-coil, collagenous, and triple β-stranded motifs, provided the appropriate linkers are used. The combination of different motifs within the same fibrous molecule to create stable rods with multiple functions can even be envisioned. We provide a comprehensive overview of the experimental procedures used for designing, creating, and characterizing hybrid fibrous nanorods using the fibritin trimerization motif.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Vari, 16672, Greece

    Katerina Papanikolopoulou

  2. Institute of Molecular Biology of Barcelona (IBMBCSIC), Parc Cientific de Barcelona, Barcelona, 08028, Spain

    Mark J. van Raaij

  3. Department of Materials Science and Technology, c/o Biology Department, University of Crete, Vassilika Vouton, Crete, Greece

    Anna Mitraki

Authors
  1. Katerina Papanikolopoulou
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  2. Mark J. van Raaij
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  3. Anna Mitraki
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Biology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Ehud Gazit (Faculty of Life Science) (Faculty of Life Science)

  2. Center for Cancer Research Nanobiology Program, SAIC-Frederick National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD

    Ruth Nussinov

  3. Department of Human Genetics Medical School, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Ruth Nussinov

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© 2008 Humana Press, a part of Springer Science + Business Media, LLC

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Papanikolopoulou, K., van Raaij, M.J., Mitraki, A. (2008). Creation of Hybrid Nanorods From Sequences of Natural Trimeric Fibrous Proteins Using the Fibritin Trimerization Motif. In: Gazit, E., Nussinov, R. (eds) Nanostructure Design. Methods in Molecular Biology™, vol 474. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-480-3_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-480-3_2

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-934115-35-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-59745-480-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Protocols

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