Seminars

Nucleic acid encapsulation is a fundamental requirement of life, elegantly solving the challenges of evolution in a complex biochemical environment by coupling genotype to phenotype and protecting genetic material. In the simplest examples, viruses use capsids to surround their genomes, but they remain delicate systems that are difficult to re-engineer for therapeutic applications. Based on simple first principles, we have created synthetic nucleocapsids that encapsulate their own RNA genome, providing a “blank slate” to design and evolve desired properties for drug delivery, while avoiding the safety risks and engineering challenges associated with viruses.

Reference: Butterfield GL, Lajoie MJ, Gustafson HH, Sellers DL, Nattermann U, Ellis D, Bale JB, Ke S,
Lenz GH, Yehdego A et al: Evolution of a designed protein assembly encapsulating its own
RNA genome. Nature 2017, 552(7685):415-420. PMID: 29236688