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Recombinant artificial forisomes provide ample quantities of smart biomaterials for use in technical devices

  • Biotechnologically Relevant Enzymes and Proteins
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Abstract

Forisomes are mechanoproteins that undergo ATP-independent contraction–expansion cycles triggered by divalent cations, pH changes, and electrical stimuli. Although native forisomes from Medicago truncatula comprise a number of subunits encoded by separate genes, here we show that at least two of those subunits (MtSEO1 and MtSEO4) can assemble into homomeric forisome bodies that are functionally similar to their native, multimeric counterparts. We expressed these subunits in plants and yeast, resulting in the purification of large quantities of artificial forisomes with unique characteristics depending on the expression platform. These artificial forisomes were able to contract and expand in vitro like native forisomes and could respond to electrical stimulation when immobilized between interdigital transducer electrodes. These results indicate that recombinant artificial forisomes with specific characteristics can be prepared in large amounts and used as components of microscale and nanoscale devices.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the technical assistance of Ann-Christin Müller. This work was partially supported by grants from the Bundesministerium für Forschung und Bildung (0312014B), the Fraunhofer MAVO program “Smart Plastics” and the VolkswagenStiftung, contract no. I/82 075.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fraunhofer Institut für Molekularbiologie und Angewandte Ökologie, Forckenbeckstrasse 6, 52074, Aachen, Germany

    Boje Müller, Antonia M. Ernst, Boris Rüping & Dirk Prüfer

  2. Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Institut für Biochemie und Biotechnologie der Pflanzen, Hindenburgplatz 55, 48143, Münster, Germany

    Gundula A. Noll, Sira Groscurth & Dirk Prüfer

  3. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK

    Richard M. Twyman

  4. Lethbridge Research Centre, Agriculture and Agrifood Canada, 5403-1 Avenue South, Lethbridge, AB, T1J 4B1, Canada

    Lawrence M. Kawchuk

Authors
  1. Boje Müller
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  2. Gundula A. Noll
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  3. Antonia M. Ernst
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  4. Boris Rüping
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  5. Sira Groscurth
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  6. Richard M. Twyman
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  7. Lawrence M. Kawchuk
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  8. Dirk Prüfer
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dirk Prüfer.

Additional information

Boje Müller and Gundula A. Noll contributed equally to this work.

Electronic supplementary material

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Movie of yeast-derived forisomes changing their conformation due to electrotitration (MPG 982 kb)

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Müller, B., Noll, G.A., Ernst, A.M. et al. Recombinant artificial forisomes provide ample quantities of smart biomaterials for use in technical devices. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 88, 689–698 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-010-2771-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-010-2771-4

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