Smart and biofunctional streptavidin

The high affinity recognition of biotin and biotinylated molecules has made streptavidin one of the most important components in diagnostics and labor atory kits. While it is extremely useful as the native protein, there are m any applications where its function can be improved re-engineering the subu nits. We review here our efforts to construct streptavidin tetramers that h ave 'smart' recognition capabilities, and which display functional peptide sequences. These smart and biofunctional streptavidin derivatives can 'talk ' to cells, and 'listen' to external signals which control capture and rele ase of biotinylated molecules. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights re served.