Engineering a genetic construct to express soluble proteins tethered to the cell membrane

Alejandro Ronco-Campaña; John Simms; Alan D. Goddard; Alice J. Rothnie

doi:10.1042/BSR20260216

Engineering a genetic construct to express soluble proteins tethered to the cell membrane

Alejandro Ronco-Campaña
, John Simms
, Alan D. Goddard
, Alice J. Rothnie^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Synthetic biology has significantly grown and developed in the last decades, allowing its implementation in a wide variety of fields and applications. However, there is a lack of versatile, modular tools that allow the expression of soluble proteins anchored to the cell membrane, which could be useful in a range of applications. Therefore, using a combination of computational simulations and experimental validation, we designed a genetic construct for the expression of soluble proteins tethered to the cell membrane. Using green fluorescent protein as a model soluble protein, we demonstrated that it was successfully tethered to the cell membrane and that it could be incorporated into polymer lipid nanodiscs and purified through the histidine tag. Replacement of the reporter gene with another gene of interest could lead to its application in a wide variety of fields, from creating artificial signalling or enzymatic cascades to studying lipid and protein dynamics in the cell membrane.

Original language	English
Article number	BSR20260216
Number of pages	14
Journal	Bioscience Reports
Volume	46
Issue number	9
Early online date	19 Aug 2026
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1042/BSR20260216
Publication status	Published - 9 Sept 2026

Bibliographical note

Copyright © 2026 The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Portland Press Limited on behalf of the Biochemical Society and distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CC BY).

Data Access Statement

The underlying data for the present study can be found at the Aston Explorer Data Repository https://doi.org/10.17036/researchdata.aston.ac.uk.00000668

Funding

The authors are grateful for funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Marie Sklodowska Curie [grant agreement No. 847,419 (MemTrain)]. The present work was also supported by the Aston University BBSRC Impact Accelerator Account [BB/X511031/1]. The Aston Institute for Membrane Excellence (AIME) is funded by UKRI’s Research England as part of their Expanding Excellence in England (E3) fund.

Keywords

GFP
membrane tethered protein
SMALP
WALP peptide

Access to Document

10.1042/BSR20260216Licence: CC BY 4.0

A Ronco-Campana et al_Engineering a genetic construct to express soluble proteins tethered to the cell membrane_bsr-2026-0216
Copyright © 2026 The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Portland Press Limited on behalf of the Biochemical Society and distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CC BY).
Final published version, 2.56 MBLicence: CC BY 4.0

Cite this

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title = "Engineering a genetic construct to express soluble proteins tethered to the cell membrane",

abstract = "Synthetic biology has significantly grown and developed in the last decades, allowing its implementation in a wide variety of fields and applications. However, there is a lack of versatile, modular tools that allow the expression of soluble proteins anchored to the cell membrane, which could be useful in a range of applications. Therefore, using a combination of computational simulations and experimental validation, we designed a genetic construct for the expression of soluble proteins tethered to the cell membrane. Using green fluorescent protein as a model soluble protein, we demonstrated that it was successfully tethered to the cell membrane and that it could be incorporated into polymer lipid nanodiscs and purified through the histidine tag. Replacement of the reporter gene with another gene of interest could lead to its application in a wide variety of fields, from creating artificial signalling or enzymatic cascades to studying lipid and protein dynamics in the cell membrane.",

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Engineering a genetic construct to express soluble proteins tethered to the cell membrane

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Data Access Statement

Funding

Keywords

Access to Document

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Data underpinning 'Engineering a genetic construct to express soluble proteins tethered to the cell membrane'

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Engineering a genetic construct to express soluble proteins tethered to the cell membrane

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Data Access Statement

Funding

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Datasets

Data underpinning 'Engineering a genetic construct to express soluble proteins tethered to the cell membrane'

Cite this