Journal: bioRxiv
Article Title: Engineering a Novel Bacterial Encapsulin for Programmable Surface Functionalization: From Single-Target to Mosaic Nanovaccines
doi: 10.64898/2026.06.01.729406
Figure Lengend Snippet: ( a ) Schematic of peptide antigens with an N-terminal SpyTag (orange) linked via a flexible (GS)n spacer (black) to peptide antigens derived from pTau (S-pTau; green) or Aβ (S-Aβ; purple). ( b ) Conceptual illustration of unconjugated and conjugated Am-S, including the bare nanoscaffold (Am-S), monovalent nanocage formats bearing S-pTau (Am-S-pTau) or S-Aβ (Am-S-Aβ), and a multivalent “mosaic” nanocage bearing both antigens. ( c ) PAGE assessment of SpyTag/SpyCatcher-mediated conjugation, with ( left ) SDS-PAGE showing covalent coupling of antigen(s) to the Am-S subunit, and ( right ) non-denaturing native PAGE indicating antigen (co-)display on the assembled Am-S nanocage. ( d ) DLS characterisation of hydrodynamic diameter and dispersity of the (co-)conjugated nanocages. ( e ) Negatively stained TEM images of Am-S (orange), Am-S-pTau (green), Am-S-Aβ (purple), and mosaic (blue) nanocage formats; Scale bars = 200 nm.
Article Snippet: The E. coli codon optimised AmEnc-SpyCatcher (Am-S) sequence ( Table S2 ) was synthesised by Twist Bioscience into the pET-24(+) expression vector and transformed into E. coli BL21(DE3) competent cells (New England Biolabs).
Techniques: Derivative Assay, Conjugation Assay, SDS Page, Clear Native PAGE, Staining