Nature has a trick to evolve multimeric proteins via gene duplication.
🧬One copy compensates, the other explores.🧬
Although this has only been a theory so far.
Until now: Directed evolution of multimeric proteins by dual-compensatory gene duplication.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Boosting photosynthesis w/ synthetic biology 🌿💥☀️
#USYD & ANU researchers built modular nanocompartments that encapsulate Rubisco (the enzyme that fixes CO₂): new way to engineer carbon-concentration into crops. Via Sydney Analytical + Sydney Microscopy & Microanalysis.
go.nature.com/43kERHj
So excited that this is out in the world! Onto the next phase 🦠🧪
Would love to see some friendly faces in the crowd! Get your tickets below 👇
Thanks, Kovi! And thanks for including the emoji - I'm still learning the ropes! 😂
You misspelled pumpkin pie
Being from the USA, I struggle with Aussie Christmas. Maybe all I've been missing is some Aussie Christmas flair? My glorious friends @bambiraptorf.bsky.social @astrolaura.bsky.social and Prof Euan Ritchie wrote a great piece about science and Christmas crafts! theconversation.com/decorating-y...
This paper is also special because it's my first work co-authored by my better half @rezwansiddiquee.bsky.social! Many thanks to Lau Group members Alex, Lachlan, Titus, and Regi as well as UTS colleagues Andrew and Claire. And and all thanks to my supervisor @yuhenglau.bsky.social for his support!
The biggest advantage of this system is how darn easy it is to use. It's entirely modular with the cargo only needing a short CLP attached to direct packaging. This system removes a significant barrier in encapsulin biotechnology - we can't wait to see where we go from here!
a schematic showing that if the fusion protein is cleaved in the presence of cargo molecules, the cargo ends up inside the assembled cage structures
If you cleave the protein the the presence of molecule fused to a a cargo-loading peptide (CLP), the cages will package the cargo molecule with minimal losses. We show the packaging of a fluorescent protein, synthetic dye, and cancer drug molecule.
microscopy images showing unassembled proteins with the fusion attached and uniform, circular assemblies after cleaving the fusion protein
By fusing the encapsulin monomer to a steric block, we prevent in vivo assembly and can purify stable, soluble unassembled encapsulin! Cleaving off the fusion leads to robust assemblies which are higher fidelity and more stable than their in vivo counterparts
My first ever Bluesky post is a new #preprint alert! What if we could put *anything* into a protein cage? Our new in vitro encapsulin assembly system is esay to use and enables the pacakging of protein and synthetic cargo!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Very excited to share our new pre-print! We’ve developed a new way to put any type of cargo (biological or synthetic) into protein cages! All in-vitro! This enables massively scalable in vitro packaging technology for multiple lucrative applications. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Long time lurker, first time poster... announcing our latest preprint on encapsulin protein cages!
We can now assemble them beautifully in vitro, without the ugly defects you get using acid/base or denaturants.
This lets us put any synthetic cargo into these cages.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
