Bioengineering a Light-Responsive Encapsulin Nanoreactor: A Potential Tool for In Vitro Photodynamic Therapy.
Encapsulins, a prokaryotic class of self-assembling protein nanocompartments, are being re-engineered to serve as "nanoreactors" for the augmentation or creation of key biochemical reactions. However, approaches that allow encapsulin nanoreactors to be functionally activated with spatial and temporal precision are lacking. We report the construction of a light-responsive encapsulin nanoreactor for "on demand" production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Herein, encapsulins were loaded with the fluorescent flavoprotein mini-singlet oxygen generator (miniSOG), a biological photosensitizer that is activated by blue light to generate ROS, primarily singlet oxygen (1O2). We established that the nanocompartments stably encased miniSOG and in response to blue light were able to mediate the photoconversion of molecular oxygen into ROS. Using an in vitro model of lung cancer, we showed that ROS generated by the nanoreactor triggered photosensitized oxidation reactions which exerted a toxic effect on tumor cells, suggesting utility in photodynamic therapy. This encapsulin nanoreactor thus represents a platform for the light-controlled initiation and/or modulation of ROS-driven processes in biomedicine and biotechnology.
['Diaz|Dennis|D|', 'Vidal|Xavier|X|', 'Sunna|Anwar|A|http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1467-9937', 'Care|Andrew|A|http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0035-7961']
D000072283:A549 Cells D000970:Antineoplastic Agents D001698:Biomedical Engineering D049109:Cell Proliferation D002470:Cell Survival D004354:Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor D005420:Flavoproteins D005456:Fluorescent Dyes D006801:Humans D008027:Light D008175:Lung Neoplasms D053761:Nanocomposites D010316:Particle Size D010778:Photochemotherapy D017319:Photosensitizing Agents D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species D026082:Singlet Oxygen D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence D013499:Surface Properties
encapsulin nanoreactor photodynamic therapy reactive oxygen species photosensitizer compartmentalization protein delivery