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Open Dataset XSYZZNCX

Bacterial Microcompartment Shells made of BMC-H and BMC-T as a Function of Temperature

Abstract

Bacterial microcompartments are self-assembling organelles that colocalize enzymes and metabolites of various biochemical pathways. Their selectively permeable shell is made entirely of protein, and the inherent properties of these systems make them attractive templates for bioengineering synthetic nanoreactors. Understanding the extent of shell stability in an extended range of conditions broadens the scope of chemistries that can be confined in these nanocompartments. Here, we analyze the stability of in vitro assembled BMC shells and find that they retain their structure at high concentrations of various solvents and detergents, at temperatures up to 75°C, and across a pH range from 3.9 to 11. Shell disassembly is observed below pH 3.9, but shells can be reassembled upon increasing the pH back to 8. These results expand the range of reactions that can be performed inside protein-based nanoreactors and underscore the potential of modular BMC shell proteins as versatile biomaterials.

Experimental description

Temperature-controlled SAXS measurements were performed using a custom machined stainless steel needle seat, and a metallic needle mounted on the Tecan liquid handler, to improve thermal conduction up to the sample, compared to the standard plastic needle routinely used on the beamline. The seat is thermally coupled to a water-cooled Peltier cell for temperature control, achieved by a PID module and a thermocouple, placed on the heated block in the immediate vicinity of the needle position. The 96-well plate holder containing the samples was also temperature-controlled using a circulating water bath, in order to equilibrate the samples at a certain temperature for a satisfactory amount of time before the measurements (~10 min). Solution conditions were 50 mM Tris-HCl pH 8 and 150 mM NaCl.

File description

The temperautre of each sample in Celcius is part of the name ie. Temp_10_1.dat was a sample collected at 10 C.

Created

2026-05-29

Published

2026-05-29

Data collection technique

HT-SAXS

Journal DOI

Source

Advanced Light Source

Beamline

SIBYLS BL12.3.1

Wavelength

1.23 Å

Sample to Detector Distance

2.0 m

Submitting Author

G. Hura

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, The SIBYLS Beamline

United States of America

Collaborators

T. Chiang, K. Range

Project Leader

G. Hura


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Sample:

  • Macromolecule 1: BMC
    • Sample Full Name: Bacterian Microcompartment
    • Sample Type: Protein
    • Source Organism:
    • Source Organism NCBI Taxonomy ID:
    • Expression System:
    • Expression NCBI Taxonomy ID:
    • Uniprot ID's:
    • Sequence or Chemical Formula: