The Polyhedrin Project

From BeSTGRID

[edit] The Polyhedrin Project, School of Biological Sciences

Project Lead

Assoc Prof Peter Metcalf, Biological Sciences, tel: 84810

Usage

500GB

Project Description

• The polyhedrin project is an international research collaboration based in Auckland involving research groups in Japan and Switzerland. The project was established in November 2002 with the initial aim of determining the atomic structure of cypovirus polyhedra, tiny micron-sized protein crystals produced inside cells of silk worms infected with this virus. The micro-crystals are formed from the viral protein polyhedrin and contain virus particles embedded within a crystalline lattice of polyhedrin molecules. The virus containing micro-crystals are remarkably stable and can remain infectious in the environment for years after the death of the infected silk worms. The initial aim of the project was accomplished in mid-2006 and the results published in the prestigious journal Nature in March 2007. The cypovirus atomic structure is important because it enables protein engineering methods to be used to develop the micro-crystals into a range of stable protein based devices, including stabilized enzyme chips, biosensors and stable micro-containers for vaccine delivery.
• The specific aims of the research currently being carried out by the collaborators include the atomic level analysis of engineered cypovirus micro-crystals and the determination of the atomic structure of related micro-crystals produced by other insect viruses. In this work, the engineered cypovirus micro-crystals are provided by the laboratory of Professor Hajime Mori at the Kyoto Institute of Technology and preliminary analysis of these and other samples is carried out in Auckland. Protein crystallography experiments are carried out using the specialize micro-X ray beam at the Swiss Light Source synchrotron near Zurich, where we work in collaboration with the group of Clemens Schulze-Briese. These experiments produce large amounts of data (currently ~50 GB per trip, two or three times per year) and arranging convenient international access and secure storage has become a significant problem. BeSTGRID is expected to provide an ideal solution for our data storage/access requirements.