title: Protein self-assembly via supramolecular strategies.
abstract: Proteins, as the elemental basis of living organisms, mostly execute their biological tasks in the form of supramolecular self-assemblies with subtle architectures, dynamic interactions and versatile functionalities. Inspired by the structural harmony and functional beauty of natural protein self-assemblies to fabricate sophisticated yet highly ordered protein superstructures represents an adventure in the pursuit of nature's supreme wisdom. In this review, we focus on building protein self-assembly systems based on supramolecular strategies and classify recent progress by the types of utilized supramolecular driving forces. Especially, the design strategy, structure control and the thermodynamic/kinetic regulation of the self-assemblies, which will in turn provide insights into the natural biological self-assembly mechanism, are highlighted. In addition, recently, this research field is starting to extend its interest beyond constructing complex morphologies towards the potential applications of the self-assembly systems; several attempts to design functional protein complexes are also discussed. As such, we hope that this review will provide a panoramic sketch of the field and draw a roadmap towards the ultimate construction of advanced protein self-assemblies that even can serve as analogues of their natural counterparts.
authors.affiliation: State Key laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China. junqiuliu@jlu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yushi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Bai
authors.forename: Quan
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Junqiu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D007700:Kinetics; D046911:Macromolecular Substances / Q000737:chemistry*; D008956:Models, Chemical; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry*; D011487:Protein Conformation; D055503:Protein Multimerization; D020836:Protein Structure, Quaternary; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D011506:Proteins