Nishimura T, Hatatani Y, Ando M, Sasaki Y, Akiyoshi K. Single-component nanodiscs
via the thermal folding of amphiphilic graft copolymers with the adjusted flexibility of the main chain.
Chem Sci 2022;
13:5243-5251. [PMID:
35655565 PMCID:
PMC9093194 DOI:
10.1039/d2sc01674e]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2022] [Accepted: 04/12/2022] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Nanodiscs have attracted considerable attention as structural scaffolds for membrane-protein research and as biomaterials in e.g. drug-delivery systems. However, conventional disc-fabrication methods are usually laborious, and disc fabrication via the self-assembly of amphiphiles is difficult. Herein, we report the formation of polymer nanodiscs based on the self-assembly of amphiphilic graft copolymers by adjusting the persistence length of the main chain. Amphiphilic graft copolymers with a series of different main-chain persistence lengths were prepared and these formed, depending on the persistence length, either rods, discs, or vesicles. Notably, polymer nanodiscs were formed upon heating a chilled polymer solution without the need for any additives, and the thus obtained nanodiscs were used to solubilize a membrane protein during cell-free protein synthesis. Given the simplicity of this disc-fabrication method and the ability of these discs to solubilize membrane proteins, this study considerably expands the fundamental and practical scope of graft-copolymer nanodiscs and demonstrates their utility as tools for studying the structure and function of membrane proteins.
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