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.