Encapsulin

EM structure of Myxococcus xanthus encpasulin protein (EncA) PDB entry 4pt2
Identifiers
SymbolLinocin_M18
PfamPF04454
InterProIPR007544
Available protein structures:
Pfam  structures / ECOD  
PDBRCSB PDB; PDBe; PDBj
PDBsumstructure summary

The encapsulins are a family of bacterial proteins that serve as the main structural components of encapsulin nanocompartments.[1] There are several different encapsulin proteins, including EncA, which forms the shell, and EncB, EncC, and EncD, which form the core.[1] They are found in bacteria and archaea. They serve as intracellular structures that compartmentalize specific biochemical reactions. They are highly versatile systems and protect cargo proteins from environmental damage and optimize the efficiency of enzymatic processes.

Encapsulins are used in synthetic biology, microbiology, structural biology, nanotechnology, and biotechnology. They are hard to discover due to their similarity to phage proteins.[2]

  1. ^ a b McHugh CA, Fontana J, Nemecek D, Cheng N, Aksyuk AA, Heymann JB, Winkler DC, Lam AS, Wall JS, Steven AC, Hoiczyk E (September 2014). "A virus capsid-like nanocompartment that stores iron and protects bacteria from oxidative stress". The EMBO Journal. 33 (17): 1896–911. doi:10.15252/embj.201488566. PMC 4195785. PMID 25024436.
  2. ^ Kashif-Khan N, Savva R, Frank S (7 March 2024). "Mining metagenomics data for novel bacterial nanocompartments". NAR Genomics & Bioinformatics. 6 (1): lqae025. doi:10.1093/nargab/lqae025.