Figure 1.

Structure of a THS and schematic depiction of siRNA delivery with a THS–PAMAM conjugate. a) Cut away view of a thermosome (green). Cysteines on the inside surface (red) serve as attachment points for conjugation reactions. To illustrate the proportion of protein cage and dendrimer, a model of PAMAM and the bis‐arylhydrazone linker (blue) was placed into a cavity of THS. b) PAMAM conjugation to the cavity of THS, siRNA binding to THS–PAMAM and transfection of cells by THS–PAMAM conjugate. c) Conjugation strategy to link PAMAM into THS. Cys of THS were modified with the heterobifunctional linker MTFB. PAMAM was modified with the heterobifunctional linker HyNic. After purification of the products from unreacted linkers, THS–MTFB and PAMAM–HyNic were mixed in order to react to THS–PAMAM.