Search results for "protein engineering"
showing 10 items of 54 documents
Tetravalent single-chain avidin: from subunits to protein domains via circularly permuted avidins
2005
scAvd (single-chain avidin, where two dcAvd are joined in a single polypeptide chain), having four biotin-binding domains, was constructed by fusion of topologically modified avidin units. scAvd showed similar biotin binding and thermal stability properties as chicken avidin. The DNA construct encoding scAvd contains four circularly permuted avidin domains, plus short linkers connecting the four domains into a single polypeptide chain. In contrast with wild-type avidin, which contains four identical avidin monomers, scAvd enables each one of the four avidin domains to be independently modified by protein engineering. Therefore the scAvd scaffold can be used to construct spatially and stoich…
High-resolution solution NMR structure of the Z domain of staphylococcal protein A
1997
Staphylococcal protein A (SpA) is a cell-wall-bound pathogenicity factor from the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus. Because of their small size and immunoglobulin (IgG)-binding activities, domains of protein A are targets for protein engineering efforts and for the development of computational approaches for de novo protein folding. The NMR solution structure of an engineered IgG-binding domain of SpA, the Z domain (an analog of the B domain of SpA), has been determined by simulated annealing with restrained molecular dynamics on the basis of 671 conformational constraints. The Z domain contains three well-defined alpha-helices corresponding to polypeptide segments Lys7 to Leu17 (helix 1), G…
Origins of fluorescence in evolved bacteriophytochromes
2014
Use of fluorescent proteins to study in vivo processes in mammals requires near-infrared (NIR) biomarkers that exploit the ability of light in this range to penetrate tissue. Bacteriophytochromes (BphPs) are photoreceptors that couple absorbance of NIR light to photoisomerization, protein conformational changes, and signal transduction. BphPs have been engineered to form NIR fluorophores, including IFP1.4, Wi-Phy, and the iRFP series, initially by replacement of Asp-207 by His. This position was suggestive because its main chain carbonyl is within hydrogen-bonding distance to pyrrole ring nitrogens of the biliverdin chromophore, thus potentially functioning as a crucial transient proton sin…
Homology modeling using simulated annealing of restrained molecular dynamics and conformational search calculations with CONGEN: application in predi…
1997
We have developed an automatic approach for homology modeling using restrained molecular dynamics and simulated annealing procedures, together with conformational search algorithms available in the molecular mechanics program CONGEN (Bruccoleri RE, Karplus M, 1987, Biopolymers 26:137-168). The accuracy of the method is validated by "predicting" structures of two homeodomain proteins with known three-dimensional structures, and then applied to predict the three-dimensional structure of the homeodomain of the murine Msx-1 transcription factor. Regions of the unknown protein structure that are highly homologous to the known template structure are constrained by "homology distance constraints,"…
Controlling quaternary structure assembly: subunit interface engineering and crystal structure of dual chain avidin.
2006
Dual chain avidin (dcAvd) is an engineered avidin form, in which two circularly permuted chicken avidin monomers are fused into one polypeptide chain. DcAvd can theoretically form two different pseudotetrameric quaternary assemblies because of symmetry at the monomer-monomer interfaces. Here, our aim was to control the assembly of the quaternary structure of dcAvd. We introduced the mutation I117C into one of the circularly permuted domains of dcAvd and scanned residues along the 1-3 subunit interface of the other domain. Interestingly, V115H resulted in a single, disulfide locked quaternary assembly of dcAvd, whereas I117H could not guide the oligomerisation process even though it stabilis…
Chicken Avidin-related Protein 4/5 Shows Superior Thermal Stability when Compared with Avidin while Retaining High Affinity to Biotin
2003
The protein chicken avidin is a commonly used tool in various applications. The avidin gene belongs to a gene family that also includes seven other members known as the avidin-related genes (AVR). We report here on the extremely high thermal stability and functional characteristics of avidin-related protein AVR4/5, a member of the avidin protein family. The thermal stability characteristics of AVR4/5 were examined using a differential scanning calorimeter, microparticle analysis, and a microplate assay. Its biotin-binding properties were studied using an isothermal calorimeter and IAsys optical biosensor. According to these analyses, in the absence of biotin AVR4/5 is clearly more stable (T…
A molecular assembly system that renders antigens of choice highly repetitive for induction of protective B cell responses.
2002
Virus like particles (VLPs) are known to induce potent B cell responses in the absence of adjuvants. Moreover, epitope-specific antibody responses may be induced by VLPs that contain peptides inserted in their immunodominant regions. However, due to steric problems, the size of the peptides capable of being incorporated into VLPs while still permitting capsid assembly, is rather limited. While peptides genetically fused to either the N- or C-terminus of VLPs present fewer assembly problems, the immune responses obtained against such epitopes are often limited, most likely because the epitopes are not optimally exposed. In addition, such particles may be less stable in vivo. Here, we show th…
Computational design of biological catalysts
2008
The purpose of this tutorial review is to illustrate the way to design new and powerful catalysts. The first possibility to get a biological catalyst for a given chemical process is to use existing enzymes that catalyze related reactions. The second possibility is the use of immune systems that recognize stable molecules resembling the transition structure of the target reaction. We finally show how computational techniques are able to provide an enormous quantity of information, providing clues to guide the development of new biological catalysts
Learning from nature: beta-sheet-mimicking copolymers get organized.
2007
The solution structures formed by coil-coil copolymers arise from the selective solvation of one of the two blocks and have been well described. In most cases in such relatively simple synthetic structures there are no specific attractive forces that can aid the aggregation process. Nature, however, provides plenty of inspiring polymeric architectures that are shaped and ordered hierarchically by noncovalent forces. The high level of structural definition displayed by proteins, for example, is unmatched by synthetic polymers. An emerging area of interest in polymer science tries to combine the best of both worlds, the natural and the synthetic, by conjugating synthetic polymers and beta-she…
Dual film-like organelles enable spatial separation of orthogonal eukaryotic translation
2021
Summary Engineering new functionality into living eukaryotic systems by enzyme evolution or de novo protein design is a formidable challenge. Cells do not rely exclusively on DNA-based evolution to generate new functionality but often utilize membrane encapsulation or formation of membraneless organelles to separate distinct molecular processes that execute complex operations. Applying this principle and the concept of two-dimensional phase separation, we develop film-like synthetic organelles that support protein translation on the surfaces of various cellular membranes. These sub-resolution synthetic films provide a path to make functionally distinct enzymes within the same cell. We use t…