Recombinant Protein Materials for Bioengineering and Nanomedicine

Abstract

Proteins are essential macromolecules supporting life. Being efficient catalyzers and offering specific cross-molecular contacts, proteins are largely exploited in biotechnology and biomedicine as therapeutics, in industrial catalysis or as molecular reagents. Recombinant enzymes, hormones, immunogens and antibodies are produced aiming to different applications, on the basis of their ability to interact with or modify substrates or biological targets. In nature, proteins also perform task-specific architectonic roles, and they can organize in supramolecular complexes with intriguing physical properties such as elasticity and adhesiveness, and with regulatable stiffness, flexibility and mechanical strength. Proteins have recently gained interest as materials for bioengineering and nanomedicine as they can combine these features with functionality, biocompatibility and degradability in unusually versatile composites. We revise here the fundamental properties of the diverse categories of emerging protein materials resulting from biological synthesis and how they can be genetically re-designed to engineer the interplay between mechanical and biological properties in a medically oriented exploitable way.

Keywords::

• bioengineering
• biomaterials
• mechanical properties
• recombinant proteins
• structural proteins

Supplementary Material

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors acknowledge the financial support received for the design of protein-based materials from FIS (to E Vázquez, PI12/00327), from La Marató de TV3 (to JL Corchero, TV32009-101235, to A Villaverde, TV32013-132031 and to E Vázquez, TV32013-133930), from INIA (to E García-Fruitós; RTA2012-00028-C02-02), from MINECO (to A Villaverde; BIO2013-41019-P) and from the Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red (CIBER) de Bioingeniería, Biomateriales y Nanomedicina (NANOPROTHER and PENTRI projects), financed by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III with assistance from the European Regional Development Fund. A Villaverde has been distinguished with an ICREA ACADEMIA Award. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Acknowledgements

The authors are indebted to the Protein Production Platform (CIBER-BBN-UAB) for helpful technical assistance (www.ciber-bbn.es/en/programas/89-plataforma-de-produccion-de-proteinas-ppp).

Additional information

Funding

The authors acknowledge the financial support received for the design of protein-based materials from FIS (to E Vázquez, PI12/00327), from La Marató de TV3 (to JL Corchero, TV32009-101235, to A Villaverde, TV32013-132031 and to E Vázquez, TV32013-133930), from INIA (to E García-Fruitós; RTA2012-00028-C02-02), from MINECO (to A Villaverde; BIO2013-41019-P) and from the Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red (CIBER) de Bioingeniería, Biomateriales y Nanomedicina (NANOPROTHER and PENTRI projects), financed by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III with assistance from the European Regional Development Fund. A Villaverde has been distinguished with an ICREA ACADEMIA Award. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.