The Rise of Synthetic Biostructural Proteins

Biostructural proteins naturally evolved macromolecules like silk fibroin, elastin, and collagen, boast exceptional mechanical properties, biocompatibility, and degradability. Their hierarchical assembly capabilities allow the formation of advanced materials, including fibers, bundles, nanocarriers, microstructures, scaffolds, and bio-living materials—all now achievable through artificial gene synthesis.

Research Progress:

• 2010: Artificial elastin mimicking natural titin structures was developed by rearranging GB1 modules and conserved repeats.
• 2016: An artificial light-harvesting system mimicking natural photobacteria was created using SP1 cyclic protein self-assembly. Expression in heterologous systems like bacteria, yeast, and transgenic plants was also achieved.
• 2021: Light-responsive tethers were designed for stem cell mechanical regulation, offering a method to control cell differentiation through mechanotransduction.

Applications:

Collagen, hydrophilic and biocompatible, is used in artificial tendons, blood vessels, dental implants, and more. Silk fibroin and elastin-like proteins form nanocarriers for controlled drug delivery. Peptide assemblies integrate with functional drugs, enhancing immunotherapy nanocarriers.

Advantages & Disadvantages:

• Advantages: Mechanical properties, biocompatibility, and degradability.
• Disadvantages: Instability in synthetic systems due to high molecular weights and repeated sequences; low compatibility with prokaryotic systems; protein structure damage during assembly; unclear amino acid sequence-structure-function relationships.

Conclusion:

Efficient, scalable, and cost-effective biosynthesis of high-performance structural proteins is crucial. Synthetic systems for protein secretion reduce purification costs. Gene editing, directed evolution, and synthetic biology will drive the development of efficient hosts. Yaohai Bio-Pharma's "Gene Factory" automates synthesis, driving down DNA costs and revolutionizing bioscience.

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