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Li P, Li H. A Handle-Free, All-Protein-Based Optical Tweezers Method to Probe Protein Folding-Unfolding Dynamics. LANGMUIR : THE ACS JOURNAL OF SURFACES AND COLLOIDS 2024. [PMID: 38899455 DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.4c01711] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/21/2024]
Abstract
Optical tweezers (OT) have evolved into powerful single molecule force spectroscopy tools to investigate protein folding-unfolding dynamics. To stretch a protein of interest using OT, the protein must be flanked with two double stranded DNA (dsDNA) handles. However, coupling dsDNA handles to the protein is often of low yield, representing a bottleneck in OT experiments. Here, we report a handle-free, all-protein-based OT method for investigating protein folding/unfolding dynamics. In this new method, we employed disordered elastin-like polypeptides (ELPs) as a molecular linker and the mechanically stable cohesin-dockerin (Coh-Doc) pair as the prey-bait system to enable the efficient capture and stretching of individual protein molecules. This novel approach was validated by using model proteins NuG2 and RTX-v, yielding experimental results comparable to those obtained by using the dsDNA handle approach. This new method provides a streamlined and efficient OT approach to investigate the folding-unfolding dynamics of proteins at the single molecule level, thus expanding the toolbox of OT-based single molecule force spectroscopy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peiyun Li
- Department of ChemistryUniversity of British ColumbiaVancouver, BC V6T 1Z1, Canada
| | - Hongbin Li
- Department of ChemistryUniversity of British ColumbiaVancouver, BC V6T 1Z1, Canada
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Wu Z, Bayón JL, Kouznetsova TB, Ouchi T, Barkovich KJ, Hsu SK, Craig SL, Steinmetz NF. Virus-like Particles Armored by an Endoskeleton. NANO LETTERS 2024; 24:2989-2997. [PMID: 38294951 DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.3c03806] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/02/2024]
Abstract
Many virus-like particles (VLPs) have good chemical, thermal, and mechanical stabilities compared to those of other biologics. However, their stability needs to be improved for the commercialization and use in translation of VLP-based materials. We developed an endoskeleton-armored strategy for enhancing VLP stability. Specifically, the VLPs of physalis mottle virus (PhMV) and Qβ were used to demonstrate this concept. We built an internal polymer "backbone" using a maleimide-PEG15-maleimide cross-linker to covalently interlink viral coat proteins inside the capsid cavity, while the native VLPs are held together by only noncovalent bonding between subunits. Endoskeleton-armored VLPs exhibited significantly improved thermal stability (95 °C for 15 min), increased resistance to denaturants (i.e., surfactants, pHs, chemical denaturants, and organic solvents), and enhanced mechanical performance. Single-molecule force spectroscopy demonstrated a 6-fold increase in rupture distance and a 1.9-fold increase in rupture force of endoskeleton-armored PhMV. Overall, this endoskeleton-armored strategy provides more opportunities for the development and applications of materials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhuohong Wu
- Department of NanoEngineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, United States
- Center for Nano-ImmunoEngineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, United States
- Moores Cancer Center, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, United States
- Shu and K. C. Chien and Peter Farrell Collaboratory, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, United States
| | - Jorge L Bayón
- Department of NanoEngineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, United States
- Center for Nano-ImmunoEngineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, United States
- Moores Cancer Center, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, United States
- Shu and K. C. Chien and Peter Farrell Collaboratory, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, United States
| | - Tatiana B Kouznetsova
- Department of Chemistry, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708, United States
| | - Tetsu Ouchi
- Department of Chemistry, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708, United States
| | - Krister J Barkovich
- Center for Nano-ImmunoEngineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, United States
- Moores Cancer Center, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, United States
- Shu and K. C. Chien and Peter Farrell Collaboratory, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, United States
- Department of Radiology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, United States
| | - Sean K Hsu
- Center for Nano-ImmunoEngineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, United States
- Moores Cancer Center, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, United States
- Shu and K. C. Chien and Peter Farrell Collaboratory, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, United States
- Department of Molecular Biology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, United States
| | - Stephen L Craig
- Department of Chemistry, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708, United States
| | - Nicole F Steinmetz
- Department of NanoEngineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, United States
- Center for Nano-ImmunoEngineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, United States
- Moores Cancer Center, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, United States
- Shu and K. C. Chien and Peter Farrell Collaboratory, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, United States
- Department of Radiology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, United States
- Department of Molecular Biology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, United States
- Department of Bioengineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, United States
- Institute for Materials Discovery and Design, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, United States
- Center for Engineering in Cancer, Institute for Engineering in Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, United States
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Zuo J, Chen H, Li H. Two molecule force spectroscopy on ligand-receptor interactions. NANOSCALE 2023; 15:16581-16589. [PMID: 37740375 DOI: 10.1039/d3nr03428c] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/24/2023]
Abstract
Many biological processes involve the rupture of multiple ligand-receptors or multivalent ligand-receptors. It is challenging to study the rupture of such parallelly arranged multiple ligand-receptors due to the difficulties in engineering such systems in a well-controlled fashion. Here we report the use of two-molecule force spectroscopy to investigate the rupture of two parallelly arranged monomeric streptavidin (mSA)-biotin complexes. By using SpyCatcher-SpyTag chemistry, we successfully engineered a molecular twin of biotin, in which two biotins are arranged in parallel. By reacting mSA with twin biotin, we constructed parallelly arranged two mSA-biotin complexes for force spectroscopy experiments. The incorporation of single molecule fingerprint domains into our mSA-biotin dimers allowed us to identify and assign the rupture events of the parallelly arranged mSA-biotin complexes without any ambiguity in the two-molecule force spectroscopy experiments. Our results revealed that the rupture force of the parallel dimer mSA-biotin is 172 pN at a pulling speed of 400 nm s-1, which is about 1.6 times of that of single mSA-biotin (105 pN). Furthermore, our findings indicate that the two mSA-biotin behave as non-interacting, independent ligand-receptors. The strategy we demonstrated here can be extended to other ligand-receptors and may open up an avenue toward rigorously testing the theoretic predictions proposed in various models regarding the rupture of multiple parallel ligand-receptors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiacheng Zuo
- Department of Chemistry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1, Canada.
| | - Hui Chen
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, P. R. China
| | - Hongbin Li
- Department of Chemistry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1, Canada.
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