Principal Investigator: Prof. Stefan Arold and Prof. Niveen Khashab
Poster Presenter: Ainur Sharip, Somaya Qutub, Raik Grünberg
Lab: StruBE; Smart Hybrid Materials
Multi-enzyme systems are essential for many biological processes, such as biosynthesis and signal transduction. However, most protein engineering applications rely on single enzymes, which limits the scope and complexity of the achievable functions. To overcome this challenge, we developed a novel platform for the assembly and delivery of multi-enzyme systems using engineered metal organic frameworks (MOFs) as nanoreactors. We demonstrated the feasibility of this approach by encapsulating the entire violacein biosynthetic pathway, composed of six purified enzymes, into MOFs. The MOF nanoreactors showed comparable violacein production to free enzymes in vitro, and exhibited enhanced stability, reusability, and storage capacity. Furthermore, the MOF nanoreactors were able to translocate into mammalian cells and produce violacein from endogenous substrates and cofactors. This proof-of-concept study opens up new possibilities for the design of smart and responsive multi-enzyme nanoreactors for various biotechnological and biomedical applications.