Engineering Synthetic Ribosomes
Abstract
We will develop cell-free technologies for endowing the translation apparatus (the ribosome and its peripheral machinery) with new chemical capabilities. The ribosome is the cells factory for protein synthesis, stitching together natural amino acid substrates into sequence-defined polymers (proteins) from a defined template. Expanding the repertoire of ribosome substrates and functions promises novel drugs that kill bacteria resistant to common antibiotics and might enable new classes of materials having tunable properties such as shape memory and self-healing. Such an expansion has been a difficult task, however, because cell viability severely constrains the changes that can be made. To overcome this limitation, we will combine in vitro ribosome synthesis and self-assembly with ribosome display to select and evolve synthetic ribosomes that are programmed to synthesize non-natural polymers of defined sequence. Our work will play a transformative role in efforts to understand sequence-function design rules that bring new chemistry to biology. Moreover, it could open the way to new classes of chemicals and materials.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 03, 2017
- Accession Number
- AD1057750
Entities
People
- Michael C Jewett
Organizations
- Northwestern University