Control of protein-ligand recognition using a stimuli-responsive polymer.
Published
Journal Article
Stimuli-responsive polymers exhibit reversible phase changes in response to changes in environmental factors such as pH or temperature. Conjugating such polymers to antibodies and proteins provides molecular systems for applications such as affinity separations, immunoassays and enzyme recovery and recycling. Here we show that conjugating a temperature-sensitive polymer to a genetically engineered site on a protein allows the protein's ligand binding affinity to be controlled. We synthesized a mutant of the protein streptavidin to enable site-specific conjugation of the responsive polymer near the protein's binding site. Normal binding of biotin to the modified protein occurs below 32 degrees C, whereas above this temperature the polymer collapses and blocks binding. The collapse of the polymer and thus the enabling and disabling of binding, is reversible. Such environmentally triggered control of binding may find many applications in biotechnology and biomedicine, such as the control of enzyme reaction rates and of biosensor activity, and the controlled release of drugs.
Full Text
Duke Authors
Cited Authors
- Stayton, PS; Shimoboji, T; Long, C; Chilkoti, A; Chen, G; Harris, JM; Hoffman, AS
Published Date
- November 1995
Published In
Volume / Issue
- 378 / 6556
Start / End Page
- 472 - 474
PubMed ID
- 7477401
Pubmed Central ID
- 7477401
Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)
- 1476-4687
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
- 0028-0836
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- 10.1038/378472a0
Language
- eng