Scientists from Jagiellonian University and Durham University have developed a miniature DNA-based tool capable of controlling cell proteins, a breakthrough researchers say could improve the study of key biological processes and support future bioengineering technologies.
The tool was created by researchers at the Małopolska Centre of Biotechnology at Jagiellonian University in collaboration with Durham University.
According to Jagiellonian University, the team designed rings made of DNA measuring only a few dozen nanometres in diameter, hundreds of thousands of times smaller than a millimetre.
The rings can trap protein-carrying nanodiscs while keeping the captured proteins accessible for analysis.
Researchers said the technology could have important medical applications because membrane proteins, which sit within the fatty membranes surrounding cells, are difficult to study despite playing a central role in biology.
Membrane proteins regulate the movement of signals and materials into and out of cells and are the target of around 60% of small-molecule drugs.
The scientists said the platform could become a new method for arranging and studying membrane proteins and could eventually help build synthetic cells and systems capable of delivering proteins into target membranes with greater precision.
The team also developed a method to control the orientation of individual proteins inside nanodiscs, which researchers described as an important step for future imaging and bioengineering applications. The orientation of membrane proteins affects how signals are transmitted and how materials are transported across cell membranes.
“By being able to manipulate individual membrane proteins we may be able to more easily build new exciting nanomachines that utilise them in a novel way for basic research and in the future also for therapeutic applications”, said Piotr Stępień, the lead researcher quoted in the press release. (PAP)
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