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Updated: Oct 5, 2025

Membrane Transport Processes Analyzed by a Highly Parallel Nanopore Chip System at Single Protein Resolution
Published on: August 16, 2016
A prototype protein nanocage minimized from carboxysomes with gated oxygen permeability
Ruimin Gao1,2, Huan Tan2,3, Shanshan Li4,5
1State Key Laboratory of Virology, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Center for Biosafety Mega-Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
Protein nanocages (PNCs) in cells and viruses have inspired the development of self-assembling protein nanomaterials for various purposes. Despite the successful creation of artificial PNCs, the de novo design of PNCs with defined permeability remains challenging. Here, we report a prototype oxygen-impermeable PNC (OIPNC) assembled from the vertex protein of the β-carboxysome shell, CcmL, with quantum dots as the template via interfacial engineering. The structure of the cage was solved at the atomic scale by combined solid-state NMR spectroscopy and cryoelectron microscopy, showing icosahedral assembly of CcmL pentamers with highly conserved interpentamer interfaces. Moreover, a gating mechanism was established by reversibly blocking the pores of the cage with molecular patches. Thus, the oxygen permeability, which was probed by an oxygen sensor inside the cage, can be completely controlled. The CcmL OIPNC represents a PNC platform for oxygen-sensitive or oxygen-responsive storage, catalysis, delivery, sensing, etc.
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