Biomolecular scaffolds for enhanced signaling and catalytic efficiency

Rebecca Chen; Qi Chen; Heejae Kim; Ka-Hei Siu; Qing Sun; Shen-Long Tsai; Wilfred Chen

doi:10.1016/j.copbio.2013.11.007

Biomolecular scaffolds for enhanced signaling and catalytic efficiency

Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2014 Aug:28:59-68. doi: 10.1016/j.copbio.2013.11.007. Epub 2013 Dec 25.

Authors

Rebecca Chen¹, Qi Chen¹, Heejae Kim¹, Ka-Hei Siu¹, Qing Sun¹, Shen-Long Tsai², Wilfred Chen³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, United States.
² Department of Chemical Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei City, Taiwan.
³ Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, United States. Electronic address: wilfred@udel.edu.

PMID: 24832076
DOI: 10.1016/j.copbio.2013.11.007

Abstract

Proteins inherently are not designed to be standalone entities. Whether it is a multi-step biochemical reaction or a signaling event that triggers several other cascading events, proteins are naturally designed to function cohesively. Several natural systems have been developed through evolution to co-localize the functional proteins of the same pathway in order to ensure efficient communication of signals or intermediates. This review focuses on some selected examples of where synthetic scaffolds inspired by nature have been used to enhance the overall biological pathway performance. Applications encompass both in vivo and in vitro systems that address two key biological events in cell signaling and biosynthesis will be discussed.

Publication types

Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Review

MeSH terms

Biocompatible Materials / chemistry
Biocompatible Materials / metabolism*
Catalysis
Cellulosomes / metabolism
Models, Molecular
Nucleic Acids / chemistry
Proteins / chemistry
Proteins / metabolism*
Signal Transduction*
Synthetic Biology

Substances

Biocompatible Materials
Nucleic Acids
Proteins