title: Structure-based design of peptides that self-assemble into regular polyhedral nanoparticles.
abstract: Artificial particulate systems such as polymeric beads and liposomes are being applied in drug delivery, drug targeting, antigen display, vaccination, and other technologies. Here we used computer modeling to design a novel type of nanoparticles composed of peptides as building blocks. We verified the computer models via solid-phase peptide synthesis and biophysical analyses. We describe the structure-based design of a novel type of nanoparticles with regular polyhedral symmetry and a diameter of about 16 nm, which self-assembles from single polypeptide chains. Each peptide chain is composed of two coiled coil oligomerization domains with different oligomerization states joined by a short linker segment. In aqueous solution the peptides form nanoparticles of about 16 nm diameter. Such peptide nanoparticles are ideally suited for medical applications such as drug targeting and drug delivery systems, such as imaging devices, or they may be used for repetitive antigen display.
authors.affiliation: M.E. Müller Institute for Structural Biology, Biozentrum, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Senthilkumar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Raman
authors.forename: Gia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Machaidze
authors.forename: Ariel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lustig
authors.forename: Ueli
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Aebi
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Burkhard
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D019295:Computational Biology; D015195:Drug Design; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D008970:Molecular Weight; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D010455:Peptides / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry*; D017510:Protein Folding; D020836:Protein Structure, Quaternary; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D014461:Ultracentrifugation
chemical_list: D010455:Peptides