Journal
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
Volume 7, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/ncomms11429
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Funding
- Dartmouth College startup funds
- Alfred P Sloan Fellowship [BR2013-038]
- Neukom Institute CompX Faculty grant
- National Institutes of Health (NIH) [GM54616]
- National Science Foundation (NSF) [CHE-1413295]
- NSF [DMR 1120901]
- National Research Foundation of Korea [NRF-2014R1A1A2055647, NRF-2015M3C1A3002152, IBS-R015-D1]
- Agency for Defense Development through the Chemical and Biological Detection Research Center (CBDRC)
- Ramalingaswami fellowship from Department of Biotechnology India
- National Institute of Science Education and Research startup funds
- New Jersey Institute of Technology startup funds
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Learning to engineer self-assembly would enable the precise organization of molecules by design to create matter with tailored properties. Here we demonstrate that proteins can direct the self-assembly of buckminsterfullerene (C-60) into ordered superstructures. A previously engineered tetrameric helical bundle binds C-60 in solution, rendering it water soluble. Two tetramers associate with one C-60, promoting further organization revealed in a 1.67-angstrom crystal structure. Fullerene groups occupy periodic lattice sites, sandwiched between two Tyr residues from adjacent tetramers. Strikingly, the assembly exhibits high charge conductance, whereas both the protein-alone crystal and amorphous C-60 are electrically insulating. The affinity of C-60 for its crystal-binding site is estimated to be in the nanomolar range, with lattices of known protein crystals geometrically compatible with incorporating the motif. Taken together, these findings suggest a new means of organizing fullerene molecules into a rich variety of lattices to generate new properties by design.
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