What can protein circuit design learn from DNA nanotechnology?

Protein circuit design is still in its infancy in terms of programmability. DNA nanotechnology, however, excels at this property and its community has created a myriad of circuits and assemblies following modular hierarchical design rules. In this mini-review, we reason that the rationales behind DNA nanotechnology can nurture protein circuit design, and the unique versatility orchestrated by groups of proteins can be further exploited to program cells. Community efforts to develop databases and design algorithms for standardizing and customizing protein modules could bring the programmability of protein circuits to a level comparable to DNA nanotechnology, ultimately empowering modular hierarchical protein circuit design.