Purification and Characterization of Protein Nanotubes Assembled from a Single Bacterial Microcompartment Shell Subunit

Bacterial microcompartment (BMC) nanotubes are isolated and characterized for the first time. RmmH, a component of the Mycobacterium smegmatis BMC shell, self-assembles into protein nanotubes when expressed in Escherichia coli or by concentrating purified RmmH in vitro. BMC nanotubes offer a new biomaterial and spatial architecture that may be genetically or chemically modified and used as a molecular scaffold.