The design of protein-based assemblies is an emerging area in bionanotechnology with wide ranging applications, from vaccines to smart biomaterials. Design approaches have sought to mimic both the topologies of assemblies observed in nature, as well as their functionally relevant properties, such as being responsive to external cues. In the last few years, diverse design approaches have been used to construct assemblies with integer-dimensional (e.g. filaments, layers, lattices and polyhedra) and non-integer-dimensional (fractal) topologies. Supramolecular structures that assemble/disassemble in response to chemical and physical stimuli have also been built. Hybrid protein-DNA assemblies have expanded the set of building blocks used for generating supramolecular architectures. While still far from reproducing the sophistication of natural assemblies, these exciting results represent important steps towards the design of responsive and functional biomaterials built from the bottom up. As the complexity of topologies and diversity of building blocks increases, considerations of both thermodynamics and kinetics of assembly formation will play crucial roles in making the design of protein-based assemblies robust and useful.

中文翻译：

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设计基于蛋白质的超分子组装的最新进展。

基于蛋白质的组件的设计是生物纳米技术的一个新兴领域，具有广泛的应用，从疫苗到智能生物材料。设计方法试图模仿在自然界中观察到的组件的拓扑结构，以及它们的功能相关特性，例如对外部线索的响应。在过去几年中，已经使用不同的设计方法来构建具有整数维（例如细丝、层、晶格和多面体）和非整数维（分形）拓扑结构的组件。还建立了响应化学和物理刺激而组装/拆卸的超分子结构。混合蛋白质-DNA 组装扩展了用于生成超分子结构的构建块集。虽然还远未重现自然组装的复杂性，但这些令人兴奋的结果代表了自下而上构建响应性和功能性生物材料设计的重要步骤。随着拓扑结构的复杂性和构建块多样性的增加，热力学和装配体形成动力学的考虑将在使基于蛋白质的装配体的设计稳健和有用方面发挥关键作用。