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Fusion protein linkers: property, design and functionality
Xiaoying Chen1, Jennica L Zaro, Wei-Chiang Shen
1Department of Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews
|October 3, 2012
Summary
Fusion protein linkers are crucial for creating stable and bioactive proteins. This review details linker design, classification (flexible, rigid, cleavable), and their benefits in improving protein production and function.
Area of Science:
- Biochemistry
- Molecular Biology
- Protein Engineering
Background:
- Linkers are essential components in constructing recombinant fusion proteins.
- Their design and application are increasingly important for protein stability and bioactivity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review current knowledge on fusion protein linkers.
- To summarize examples of linker design and application.
- To highlight the advantages linkers offer in protein production.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing literature on fusion protein linkers.
- Classification of empirical linkers based on structural properties (flexible, rigid, in vivo cleavable).
- Analysis of linker functions beyond domain connection, including improving biological activity, expression yield, and pharmacokinetics.
Main Results:
- Linkers derived from natural multi-domain proteins serve as a foundation for linker design.
- Empirical linkers are categorized into flexible, rigid, and in vivo cleavable types.
- Linkers can enhance biological activity, increase expression yield, and optimize pharmacokinetic profiles of fusion proteins.
Conclusions:
- Linkers play a vital role in optimizing the properties of recombinant fusion proteins.
- Understanding linker characteristics is key to successful fusion protein engineering.
- Linkers offer multifaceted advantages for therapeutic and biotechnological applications.
Keywords:
Bifunctional recombinant proteinsEBFPEGFPFIXFRETG-CSFHSAIFNLAPMMPPDPDBPKPharmacodynamicsPharmacokineticsProtein Data BankSpacerTGNTfV(H)V(L)aaamino acidantibody heavy chain variable regionantibody light-chain variable regionscoagulation factor IXenhanced blue fluorescent proteinenhanced green fluorescent proteinfluorescent resonance energy transfergranulocyte colony-stimulating factorhGHhuman growth hormonehuman serum albumininterferonlatency associated peptidematrix metalloproteinasepharmacodynamicpharmacokineticscFvsingle-chain variable fragmenttrans-golgi networktransferrin
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