9 May 2022

We have shown that a nano-sized spherical protein cage can undergo a major change in shape simply by changing a single amino acid. The work is interesting as it provides insight into how artificial protein containers can be engineered and molded into different shapes for different applications. It also is of interest from an evolutionary perspective: Typically, evolution is thought to occur gradually but this work is an example where major structural changes in large complexes come about from a single change.