IRB Barcelona and IBEC achieve two photo-switchable proteins

By Biocat

The Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) and the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) have developed photo-switchable molecules, which are those that change with light and can control the interaction of proteins non-invasively and remotely. This is a great breakthrough in the field of chemical nanoengineering, as it opens up the possibility of designing drugs that are light regulated and whose effects can be restricted by region and time, thus reducing side effects in other areas.

Specifically, researchers have created two peptides (small proteins) that, upon irradiation with light, change shape to allow or prevent two other proteins from interacting. This way, they interfere with endocytosis, which is the process through which cells allow molecules to pass through their membrane.

Dr. Gorostiza: “These molecules allow us to use focalized light as if it were a ‘magic wand’ to control biological processes and study them”

Applications for these molecules have arisen straight away. Scientists have already confirmed their usefulness in studying in vitro endocytosis in cells where this process is out of control, like cancerous cells, as well as in studying developmental biology, where endocytosis plays a key role in cell function and morphology. Controlling biological processes with light opens up the possibility for new fields of study like optopharmacology or optogenetics.

The study was carried out by a multidisciplinary team of chemists, physicists, biotechnologists and pharmacologists, headed up by the Nanoprobes and nanoswitches group led by Dr. Pau Gorostiza, ICREA fellow at the IBEC and coordinator of the “OpticalBullet” ERC Starting Grant and “Theralight” ERC Proof of Concept projects, and the Design, synthesis and structure of peptides and proteins laboratory led by Dr. Ernest Giralt of the IRB Barcelona, professor at the University of Barcelona and National Research Laureate in 2011.

The article was published online in the German journal Angewandte Chemie, which is a benchmark in the field of chemistry, and will be on the cover of the July issue. The work has been recognized as a Very Important Paper, a distinction given to only 5% of the articles accepted.

Article:  

• Nevola L,  Martín-Quirós A, Eckelt K, Camarero N, Tosi S, Llobet A, Giralt E, Gorostiza P. Light-regulated Stapled Peptides to Inhibit Protein-protein Interactions Involved in Clathrin-mediated Endocytosis. Angewandte Chemie doi: 10.1002/anie.201303324 (18 June 2013)

More information is available on the IRB Barcelona website.