title: TOPOFOLD, the designed modular biomolecular folds: polypeptide-based molecular origami nanostructures following the footsteps of DNA.
abstract: Biopolymers, the essential components of life, are able to form many complex nanostructures, and proteins in particular are the material of choice for most cellular processes. Owing to numerous cooperative interactions, rational design of new protein folds remains extremely challenging. An alternative strategy is to design topofolds-nanostructures built from polypeptide arrays of interacting modules that define their topology. Over the course of the last several decades DNA has successfully been repurposed from its native role of information storage to a smart nanomaterial used for nanostructure self-assembly of almost any shape, which is largely because of its programmable nature. Unfortunately, polypeptides do not possess the straightforward complementarity as do nucleic acids. However, a modular approach can nevertheless be used to assemble polypeptide nanostructures, as was recently demonstrated on a single-chain polypeptide tetrahedron. This review focuses on the current state-of-the-art in the field of topological polypeptide folds. It starts with a brief overview of the field of structural DNA and RNA nanotechnology, from which it draws parallels and possible directions of development for the emerging field of polypeptide-based nanotechnology. The principles of topofold strategy and unique properties of such polypeptide nanostructures in comparison to native protein folds are discussed. Reasons for the apparent absence of such folds in nature are also examined. Physicochemical versatility of amino acid residues and cost-effective production makes polypeptides an attractive platform for designed functional bionanomaterials.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, National Institute of Chemistry, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Vid
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kočar
authors.forename: Sabina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Božič Abram
authors.forename: Tibor
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Doles
authors.forename: Nino
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bašić
authors.forename: Helena
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gradišar
authors.forename: Tomaž
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pisanski
authors.forename: Roman
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jerala
mesh_terms: D001704:Biopolymers / Q000737:chemistry; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry*; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry*; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D001704:Biopolymers; D010455:Peptides; D011506:Proteins; D004247:DNA