The encapsulation of enzymes in nanometer-sized compartments has the potential to enhance and control enzymatic activity, both in vivo and in vitro. Despite this potential, there are little quantitative data on the effect of encapsulation in a well-defined compartment under varying conditions. To gain more insight into these effects, we have characterized two improved methods for the encapsulation of heterologous molecules inside bacteriophage MS2 viral capsids. First, attaching DNA oligomers to a molecule of interest and incubating it with MS2 coat protein dimers yielded reassembled capsids that packaged the tagged molecules. The addition of a protein stabilizing osmolyte, trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO), significantly increased the yields of reassembly. Second, we found that expressed proteins with genetically encoded negatively charged peptide tags could also induce capsid reassembly, resulting in high yields of reassembled capsids containing the protein. This second method was used to encapsulate alkaline phosphatase tagged with a 16 amino acid peptide. The purified encapsulated enzyme was found to have the same Km value and a slightly lower kcat value than the free enzyme, indicating that this method of encapsulation had a minimal effect on enzyme kinetics. This method provides a practical and potentially scalable way of studying the complex effects of encapsulating enzymes in protein-based compartments.

The placement of fluorophores in close proximity to metal nanoparticle surfaces is proposed to enhance several photo-physical properties of the dyes, potentially leading to improved quantum yields and decreased photobleaching. It is difficult in practice, however, to establish and maintain the nanoscale distances that are required to maximize these effects. The type of metal, size, and shape of the nanoparticle, the physical distance separating the metal nanoparticle from the organic dye, and the spectral properties of the fluorophore itself are all proposed to influence the quantum yield and lifetime. This results in a complex behavior that can lead to either enhanced or quenched fluorescence in different contexts. In this report, we describe a well-defined system that can be used to explore these effects, while physically preventing the fluorophores from contacting the nanoparticle surfaces. The basis of this system is the spherical protein capsid of bacteriophage MS2, which was used to house gold particles within its interior volume. The exterior surface of each capsid was then modified with Alexa Fluor 488 (AF 488) labeled DNA strands. By placing AF 488 dyes at distances of 3 bp, 12 bp, and 24 bp from the surface of capsids containing 10 nm gold nanoparticles, fluorescence intensity enhancements of 2.2, 1.2, and 1.0 were observed, respectively. A corresponding decrease in fluorescence lifetime was observed for each distance. Due to its well-defined and modular nature, this architecture allows the rapid exploration of the many variables involved in metal-controlled fluorescence, leading to a better understanding of this phenomenon.

Building plasmonic nanostructures using biomolecules as scaffolds has shown great potential for attaining tunable light absorption and emission via precise spatial organization of optical species and antennae. Here we report bottom-up assembly of hierarchical plasmonic nanostructures using DNA origami templates and MS2 virus capsids. These serve as programmable scaffolds that provide molecular level control over the distribution of fluorophores and nanometer-scale control over their distance from a gold nanoparticle antenna. While previous research using DNA origami to assemble plasmonic nanostructures focused on determining the distance-dependent response of single fluorophores, here we address the challenge of constructing hybrid nanostructures that present an organized ensemble of fluorophores and then investigate the plasmonic response. By combining finite-difference time-domain numerical simulations with atomic force microscopy and correlated scanning confocal fluorescence microscopy, we find that the use of the scaffold keeps the majority of the fluorophores out of the quenching zone, leading to increased fluorescence intensity and mild levels of enhancement. The results show that the degree of enhancement can be controlled by exploiting capsid scaffolds of different sizes and tuning capsid-AuNP distances. These bioinspired plasmonic nanostructures provide a flexible design for manipulating photonic excitation and photoemission.

Natural products are privileged scaffolds due to their high propensity to possess bioactivity. To expedite discovery of thiol-containing compounds, we devised a selective solid-supported reagent for their immobilization, followed by cleavage of a photocleavable linker to yield stable natural product conjugates for direct detection by mass spectrometry. Importantly, the natural products can also be tracelessly released to yield the native structures for chemical and biological evaluation.