PMID: 26305584

Authors:

Sontz PA, Bailey JB, Ahn S, Tezcan FA

Title:

A Metal Organic Framework with Spherical Protein Nodes: Rational Chemical Design of 3D Protein Crystals.

Journal:

J Am Chem Soc. 2015 Aug 25.

Abstract:

We describe here the construction of a three-dimensional, porous, crystalline framework formed by spherical protein nodes that assemble into a prescribed lattice arrangement through metal-organic linker-directed interactions. The octahedral iron storage en-zyme, ferritin, was engineered in its C3 symmetric pores with tripodal Zn coordination sites. Dynamic light scat-tering and crystallographic studies established that this Zn-ferritin construct could robustly self-assemble into the desired bcc-type crystals upon coordination of a ditopic linker bearing hydroxamic acid functional groups. This system represents the first example of a ternary protein-metal-organic crystalline framework whose formation is fully dependent on each of its three components.