Engineered assembly of a protein–cucurbituril biohybrid

Abstract

A crystalline biohybrid with a 4 : 1 protein : cucurbituril mass ratio is presented. This result was achieved by engineering additional cucurbit[7]uril (Q7) binding sites into a β-propeller protein. In contrast to the parent protein, Q7-controlled assembly of the engineered variant occurred in solution, as evidenced by NMR and SAXS measurements.