Protein and cellular engineering with unnatural amino acids
1Department of Bioengineering, Bourns College of Engineering, University of California at Riverside, Riverside, California 92521, USA. jiayu.liao@ ucr.edu
Abstract:
Proteins are the central functional constituents in all living organisms ranging from viruses, bacteria, yeast, and plants to mammals. All of these biopolymers that are formed by natural biosynthetic pathways are composed of a genetically determined sequence of the 20 so-called natural amino acids. The physical and chemical properties of proteins are a reflection of the side chains of each of the component amino acids. However, for some purposes it would be very desireable to have amino acids with side chains of various selected physical chemical properties, such as a keto group, a crosslinker, or a NMR probe group, incorporated into the protein. Although chemical and biochemical methods for modifying amino acid moieties in proteins have been achieved, recent successes in incorporating unnatural amino acids in vivo open entirely new avenues for determining protein functions in vivo and for the creation of unnatural proteins with novel functionalities. Several examples by employing the novel activity of unnatural amino acids have shown significant roles in both basic research and biotechnology.
More Related Videos
10:24Genetic Incorporation of Biosynthesized L-dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA) and Its Application to Protein Conjugation
Published on: August 24, 2018
11:47Residue-specific Incorporation of Noncanonical Amino Acids into Model Proteins Using an Escherichia coli Cell-free Transcription-translation System
Published on: August 1, 2016
Related Concept Videos
Proteins: From Genes to Degradation
Transcription is the synthesis of RNA molecules by RNA...
Amino Acid Biosynthetic Pathways
Amino Acid Catabolism
Overview of Protein Metabolism
Amino acids play various roles in the body once they are absorbed into cells. They are restructured...
Synthetic Biology
Golden rice
Golden rice is a genetically modified...
Production of Pharmaceuticals
