Anthropic’s biology lab mapped the first 3D structure of a vault particle in prokaryotes. The particle comes from a bacteriophage and is built from 96 copies of one protein. It is shorter, wider and 25% roomier than mammalian vaults. The caps close in three steps like a tiered dome. Claude accelerated the work by searching sequences, designing constructs and processing microscopy data. A vault purification that usually takes three days took 90 minutes. A first structural model was ready in 34 hours instead of weeks. The team also engineered a larger vault by duplicating protein segments. The structure includes an unexplained small molecule in each protein copy. Findings are shared in a preprint submitted to bioRxiv.
What changed
No prokaryotic vault particle structure had been mapped before.
What it unlocks
Studying vault particles in simpler prokaryotic systems to uncover their function.
- 96 protein copies per vault
- 9.5 megadaltons combined mass
- 54 nm long, 45 nm wide
- 25% more volume than mammalian vaults
What you need to act on it
- access to cryo-EM equipment
- Claude Science for sequence analysis and design
Sources