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Updated: Dec 24, 2025

Directed Protein Packaging within Outer Membrane Vesicles from Escherichia coli: Design, Production and Purification
Published on: November 16, 2016
The biomedical and bioengineering potential of protein nanocompartments
Aubrey M Demchuk1, Trushar R Patel2
1Department of Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge, 4401 University Drive West, Lethbridge, AB, Canada.
Abstract:
Protein nanocompartments (PNCs) are self-assembling biological nanocages that can be harnessed as platforms for a wide range of nanobiotechnology applications. The most widely studied examples of PNCs include virus-like particles, bacterial microcompartments, encapsulin nanocompartments, enzyme-derived nanocages (such as lumazine synthase and the E2 component of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex), ferritins and ferritin homologues, small heat shock proteins, and vault ribonucleoproteins. Structural PNC shell proteins are stable, biocompatible, and tolerant of both interior and exterior chemical or genetic functionalization for use as vaccines, therapeutic delivery vehicles, medical imaging aids, bioreactors, biological control agents, emulsion stabilizers, or scaffolds for biomimetic materials synthesis. This review provides an overview of the recent biomedical and bioengineering advances achieved with PNCs with a particular focus on recombinant PNC derivatives.
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