Engineering Protein Self-Assembly: A New Approach for the Design of Octahedral Cages.

A new symmetry-based approach allowed the self-assembly of an octahedral protein nanostructure. C3 trimeric and C4 tetrameric oligomerization domains can be combined in an engineered protein to direct assembly into a desired object. This work might provide the basis for a more general and flexible strategy to control protein self-assembly.