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Updated: Jan 11, 2026

Directed Assembly of Elastin-like Proteins into defined Supramolecular Structures and Cargo Encapsulation In Vitro
Published on: April 8, 2020
Construction of artificial organelles via protein self-assembly and their applications
Jiachen Sun1, Ruikui Gao2,3,4, Zhongxuan Yang2,3,4
1State Key Laboratory of Synthetic Biology, Frontiers Science Center for Synthetic Biology (Ministry of Education), School of Synthetic Biology and Biomanufacturing, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University Tianjin China lichun@tsinghua.edu.cn.
Abstract:
Protein self-assembly represents a highly controllable and versatile strategy for the construction of artificial cells and their functional substructures. By harnessing or engineering the intrinsic assembly properties of natural proteins, diverse and structurally stable artificial organelles can be generated to enable spatial organization of enzymatic catalysis, metabolic pathways, and molecular transport. This review provides a comprehensive overview of representative protein self-assembly systems, including protein cages, scaffolds, and membraneless condensates, with an emphasis on their assembly principles, structural characteristics, and emerging applications in enzyme catalysis, mass transfer, and metabolic engineering. Finally, we discuss the current challenges and future directions in the field, offering a conceptual and technical framework for the rational design of protein-based artificial organelles.
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