Method of making a protein polymer and uses of the polymer

A method of encapsulating a molecule comprising the steps of:

• providing a solution of a plurality of polypeptides having a sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOS:
• 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10, and sequences having at least 50% homology to a sequence selected from SEQ ID NOS:
• 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10, as determined by analysis with a sequence comparison algorithm or by visual inspection;
• and
• polymerizing the plurality of polypeptides the presence of the molecule so as to encapsulate the molecule in the polymer.

A method of encapsulating a molecule comprising the steps of:

• providing a solution of a plurality of polypeptides, wherein each polypeptide is encoded by a nucleic acid comprising a sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOS:
• 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9, variants having at least about 50% homology to SEQ ID NOS:
• 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 over a region of at least about 100 residues, as determined by analysis with a sequence comparison algorithm or by visual inspection, sequences complementary to SEQ ID NOS:
• 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9, and sequences complementary to variants having at least about 50% homology to SEQ ID NOS:
• 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 over a region of at least about 100 residues, as determined by analysis with a sequence comparison algorithm or by visual inspection, and isolated nucleic acids that hybridize to nucleic acids having any of the foregoing sequences under conditions of low, moderate and high stringency;
• and
• polymerizing the plurality of polypeptides the presence of the molecule so as to encapsulate the molecule in the polymer.

A method of generating a variant comprising:

• obtaining a nucleic acid comprising a sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOS:
• 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9, variants having at least about 50% homology to SEQ ID NOS:
• 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 over a region of at least about 100 residues, as determined by analysis with a sequence comparison algorithm or by visual inspection, sequences complementary to SEQ ID NOS:
• 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9, sequences complementary to variants having at least about 50% homology to SEQ ID NOS:
• 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 over a region of at least about 100 residues, as determined by analysis with a sequence comparison algorithm or by visual inspection, and isolated nucleic acids that hybridize to nucleic acids having any of the foregoing sequences under conditions of low, moderate and high stringency, and fragments comprising at least 30 consecutive nucleotides of any of the foregoing sequences;
• and
• modifying said sequence by one or more steps selected from the group consisting of modifying one or more nucleotides in said sequence to another nucleotide, deleting one or more nucleotides in said sequence, and adding one or more nucleotides to said sequence.

An assay for identifying functional polypeptide fragments or variants encoded by fragments of SEQ ID NOS:

• 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9, and sequences having at least about 50% homology to SEQ ID NOS:
• 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 over a region of at least about 100 residues, as determined by analysis with a sequence comparison algorithm or by visual inspection, which retain at least one property of the polypeptides of SEQ ID NOS:
• 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10, and sequences having at least about 50% homology to SEQ ID NOS:
• 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10, over a region of at least about 100 residues, as determined by analysis with a sequence comparison algorithm or by visual inspection, said assay comprising the steps of:
• providing a solution of a plurality of polypeptides having a sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOS:
• 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10, and sequences having at least about 50% homology to SEQ ID NOS:
• 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 over a region of at least about 100 residues, as determined by analysis with a sequence comparison algorithm or by visual inspection, polypeptide fragments or variants encoded by SEQ ID NOS:
• 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9, sequences having at least about 50% homology to SEQ ID NOS:
• 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 over a region of at least about 100 residues, as determined by analysis with a sequence comparison algorithm or by visual inspection, and sequences complementary to any of the foregoing sequences, in a solution containing a template molecule and alkaline earth metal ion;
• and
• detecting a presence of a polymer in the solution.

A polypeptide comprising:

• a sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOS:
• 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10, sequences having at least 50% homology to a sequence selected from SEQ ID NOS:
• 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10, as determined by analysis with a sequence comparison algorithm or by visual inspection;
• and
• at least one functional group selected from the group consisting of an antibody, an oligosaccharide, a polynucleotide, and a polyethylene glycol.

A polypeptide comprising:

• an amino acid sequence encoded by a sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOS:
• 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9, variants having at least about 50% homology to SEQ ID NOS:
• 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 over a region of at least about 100 residues, as determined by analysis with a sequence comparison algorithm or by visual inspection, sequences complementary to SEQ ID NOS:
• 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9, and sequences complementary to variants having at least about 50% homology to SEQ ID NOS:
• 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 over a region of at least about 100 residues, as determined by analysis with a sequence comparison algorithm or by visual inspection, and isolated nucleic acids that hybridize to nucleic acids having any of the foregoing sequences under conditions of low, moderate and high stringency., and
• at least one functional group selected from the group consisting of an antibody, an oligosaccharide, a polynucleotide, and a polyethylene glycol.

A computer readable medium having stored thereon a nucleic acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOS:

• 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9, variants having at least about 50% homology to SEQ ID NOS:
• 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 over a region of at least about 100 residues, as determined by analysis with a sequence comparison algorithm or by visual inspection, sequences complementary to SEQ ID NOS:
• 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9, and sequences complementary to variants having at least about 50% homology to SEQ ID NOS:
• 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 over a region of at least about 100 residues, as determined by analysis with a sequence comparison algorithm or by visual inspection, and isolated nucleic acids that hybridize to nucleic acids having any of the foregoing sequences under conditions of low, moderate and high stringency.

A computer system comprising a processor and a data storage device wherein said data storage device has stored thereon a nucleic acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOS:

• 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9, variants having at least about 50% homology to SEQ ID NOS:
• 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 over a region of at least about 100 residues, as determined by analysis with a sequence comparison algorithm or by visual inspection, sequences complementary to SEQ ID NOS:
• 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9, and sequences complementary to variants having at least about 50% homology to SEQ ID NOS:
• 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 over a region of at least about 100 residues, as determined by analysis with a sequence comparison algorithm or by visual inspection, and isolated nucleic acids that hybridize to nucleic acids having any of the foregoing sequences under conditions of low, moderate and high stringency.

A method for comparing a first sequence to a second sequence comprising the steps of:

• reading the first sequence and the second sequence through use of a computer program which compares sequences;
• and
• determining differences between the first sequence and the second sequence with the computer program,
• wherein said first sequence is a nucleic acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOS:
• 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9, variants having at least about 50% homology to SEQ ID NOS:
• 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 over a region of at least about 100 residues, as determined by analysis with a sequence comparison algorithm or by visual inspection, sequences complementary to SEQ ID NOS:
• 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9, and sequences complementary to variants having at least about 50% homology to SEQ ID NOS:
• 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 over a region of at least about 100 residues, as determined by analysis with a sequence comparison algorithm or by visual inspection, and isolated nucleic acids that hybridize to nucleic acids having any of the foregoing sequences under conditions of low, moderate and high stringency.

A method for identifying a feature in a particular sequence comprising the steps of:

• reading the particular sequence using a computer program which identifies one or more features in a sequence;
• and
• identifying one or more features in the particular sequence with the computer program,
• wherein the particular sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOS:
• 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9, variants having at least about 50% homology to SEQ ID NOS:
• 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 over a region of at least about 100 residues, as determined by analysis with a sequence comparison algorithm or by visual inspection, sequences complementary to SEQ ID NOS:
• 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9, and sequences complementary to variants having at least about 50% homology to SEQ ID NOS:
• 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 over a region of at least about 100 residues, as determined by analysis with a sequence comparison algorithm or by visual inspection, and isolated nucleic acids that hybridize to nucleic acids having any of the foregoing sequences under conditions of low, moderate and high stringency.

An expression vector capable of replicating in a host cell comprising a polynucleotide having a sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOS:

• 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9, variants having at least about 50% homology to SEQ ID NOS:
• 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 over a region of at least about 100 residues, as determined by analysis with a sequence comparison algorithm or by visual inspection, sequences complementary to SEQ ID NOS:
• 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9, and sequences complementary to variants having at least about 50% homology to SEQ ID NOS:
• 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 over a region of at least about 100 residues, as determined by analysis with a sequence comparison algorithm or by visual inspection, and isolated nucleic acids that hybridize to nucleic acids having any of the foregoing sequences under conditions of low, moderate and high stringency.