Blueprinting extendable nanomaterials with standardized protein blocks

  Blueprinting extendable nanomaterials with standardized protein blocks   A wooden house frame consists of many diferent lumber pieces, but because of the regularity of these building blocks, the structure can be designed using straightforward geometrical principles. The design of multicomponent protein assemblies, in comparison, has been much more complex, largely owing to the irregular shapes of protein structures1 . Here we describe extendable linear, curved and angled protein building blocks, as well as inter-block interactions, that conform to specifed geometric standards; assemblies designed using these blocks inherit their extendability and regular interaction surfaces, enabling them to be expanded or contracted by varying the number of modules, and reinforced with secondary struts. Using X-ray crystallography and electron microscopy, we validate nanomaterial designs ranging from simple polygonal and circular oligomers that can be concentrically nested, up to l...