Linker length affects expression and bioactivity of the onconase fusion protein in Pichia pastoris

Research progress of multi-enzyme complexes based on the design of scaffold protein

Multi-enzyme complexes designed based on scaffold proteins are a current topic in molecular enzyme engineering. They have been gradually applied to increase the production of enzyme cascades, thereby achieving effective biosynthetic pathways. This paper reviews the recent progress in the design strategy and application of multi-enzyme complexes. First, the metabolic channels in the multi-enzyme complex have been introduced, and the construction strategies of the multi-enzyme complex emerging in recent years have been summarized. Then, the discovered enzyme cascades related to scaffold proteins are discussed, emphasizing on the influence of the linker on the fusion enzyme (fusion protein) and its possible mechanism. This review is expected to provide a more theoretical basis for the modification of multi-enzyme complexes and broaden their applications in synthetic biology.

Engineered Bifunctional Proteins for Targeted Cancer Therapy: Prospects and Challenges

Bifunctional proteins (BFPs) are a class of therapeutic agents produced through genetic engineering and protein engineering, and are increasingly used to treat various human diseases, including cancer. These proteins usually have two or more biological functions-specifically recognizing different molecular targets to regulate the related signaling pathways, or mediating effector molecules/cells to kill tumor cells. Unlike conventional small-molecule or single-target drugs, BFPs possess stronger biological activity but lower systemic toxicity. Hence, BFPs are considered to offer many benefits for the treatment of heterogeneous tumors. In this review, the authors briefly describe the unique structural feature of BFP molecules and innovatively divide them into bispecific antibodies, cytokine-based BFPs (immunocytokines), and protein toxin-based BFPs (immunotoxins) according to their mode of action. In addition, the latest advances in the development of BFPs are discussed and the potential limitations or problems in clinical applications are outlined. Taken together, future studies need to be centered on understanding the characteristics of BFPs for optimizing and designing more effective such drugs.

Flexible Peptide Linkers Enhance the Antimicrobial Activity of Surface-Immobilized Bacteriolytic Enzymes

Chemical linkers are frequently used in enzyme immobilization to improve enzyme flexibility and activity, whereas peptide linkers, although ubiquitous in protein engineering, are much less explored in enzyme immobilization. Here, we report peptide-linker-assisted noncovalent immobilization of the bacteriolytic enzyme lysostaphin (Lst) to generate anti- Staphylococcus aureus surfaces. Lst was immobilized through affinity tags onto a silica surface (glass slides) and nickel nitrilotriacetic acid (NiNTA) agarose beads via silica-binding peptides (SiBPs) or a hexahistidine tag (His-tag) fused at the C-terminus of Lst, respectively. By inserting specific peptide linkers upstream of the SiBP or His-tag, the immobilized enzymes killed >99.5% of S. aureus ATCC 6538 cells (10⁸ CFU/mL) within 3 h in buffer and could be reused multiple times without significant loss of activity. In contrast, immobilized Lst without a peptide linker was less active/stable. Molecular modeling of Lst-linker-affinity tag constructs illustrated that the presence of the peptide linkers enhanced the molecular flexibility of the proximal Lst binding domain, which interacts with the bacterial substrate, and such increased flexibility correlated with increased antimicrobial activity. We further show that Lst immobilized onto NiNTA beads retained the ability to kill ∼99% of a 10⁸ CFU/mL microbial challenge even in the presence of 1% of a commercial anionic surfactant, C12-14 alcohol EO 3:1 sodium sulfate, when the Lst construct contained a decapeptide linker containing glycine, serine, and alanine residues. This linker-assisted immobilization strategy could be extended to an unrelated lytic enzyme, the endolysin PlyPH, to target Bacillus anthracis Sterne cells either in buffer or in the presence of anionic surfactants. Our approach, therefore, provides a facile route to the use of antimicrobial enzymes on surfaces.

Biomolecular engineering for nanobio/bionanotechnology

Biomolecular engineering can be used to purposefully manipulate biomolecules, such as peptides, proteins, nucleic acids and lipids, within the framework of the relations among their structures, functions and properties, as well as their applicability to such areas as developing novel biomaterials, biosensing, bioimaging, and clinical diagnostics and therapeutics. Nanotechnology can also be used to design and tune the sizes, shapes, properties and functionality of nanomaterials. As such, there are considerable overlaps between nanotechnology and biomolecular engineering, in that both are concerned with the structure and behavior of materials on the nanometer scale or smaller. Therefore, in combination with nanotechnology, biomolecular engineering is expected to open up new fields of nanobio/bionanotechnology and to contribute to the development of novel nanobiomaterials, nanobiodevices and nanobiosystems. This review highlights recent studies using engineered biological molecules (e.g., oligonucleotides, peptides, proteins, enzymes, polysaccharides, lipids, biological cofactors and ligands) combined with functional nanomaterials in nanobio/bionanotechnology applications, including therapeutics, diagnostics, biosensing, bioanalysis and biocatalysts. Furthermore, this review focuses on five areas of recent advances in biomolecular engineering: (a) nucleic acid engineering, (b) gene engineering, (c) protein engineering, (d) chemical and enzymatic conjugation technologies, and (e) linker engineering. Precisely engineered nanobiomaterials, nanobiodevices and nanobiosystems are anticipated to emerge as next-generation platforms for bioelectronics, biosensors, biocatalysts, molecular imaging modalities, biological actuators, and biomedical applications.