Issue 1, 2017

Design and engineering of water-soluble light-harvesting protein maquettes

Abstract

Natural selection in photosynthesis has engineered tetrapyrrole based, nanometer scale, light harvesting and energy capture in light-induced charge separation. By designing and creating nanometer scale artificial light harvesting and charge separating proteins, we have the opportunity to reengineer and overcome the limitations of natural selection to extend energy capture to new wavelengths and to tailor efficient systems that better meet human as opposed to cellular energetic needs. While tetrapyrrole cofactor incorporation in natural proteins is complex and often assisted by accessory proteins for cofactor transport and insertion, artificial protein functionalization relies on a practical understanding of the basic physical chemistry of protein and cofactors that drive nanometer scale self-assembly. Patterning and balancing of hydrophobic and hydrophilic tetrapyrrole substituents is critical to avoid natural or synthetic porphyrin and chlorin aggregation in aqueous media and speed cofactor partitioning into the non-polar core of a man-made water soluble protein designed according to elementary first principles of protein folding. This partitioning is followed by site-specific anchoring of tetrapyrroles to histidine ligands strategically placed for design control of rates and efficiencies of light energy and electron transfer while orienting at least one polar group towards the aqueous phase.

Graphical abstract: Design and engineering of water-soluble light-harvesting protein maquettes

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
01 Jun 2016
Accepted
16 Aug 2016
First published
17 Aug 2016
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2017,8, 316-324

Design and engineering of water-soluble light-harvesting protein maquettes

G. Kodali, J. A. Mancini, L. A. Solomon, T. V. Episova, N. Roach, C. J. Hobbs, P. Wagner, O. A. Mass, K. Aravindu, J. E. Barnsley, K. C. Gordon, D. L. Officer, P. L. Dutton and C. C. Moser, Chem. Sci., 2017, 8, 316 DOI: 10.1039/C6SC02417C

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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