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Protein WISDOM: A Workbench for In silico De novo Design of BioMolecules
Published on: July 25, 2013
Rational design of a calcium-binding protein
Wei Yang1, Lisa M Jones, Leanne Isley
1Department of Chemistry, Center of Drug Design, Georgia State University, Atlanta 30303, USA.
Journal of the American Chemical Society
|June 6, 2003
Summary
Researchers designed a novel calcium-binding site into a protein, creating a new tool for understanding calcium
Area of Science:
- Protein Engineering and Design
- Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
- Biomineralization and Signaling Pathways
Background:
- Calcium ions are crucial for biomineralization and cellular signaling.
- Natural proteins often utilize calcium-binding sites for these functions.
- Designing artificial calcium-binding sites remains a significant challenge.
Purpose of the Study:
- To engineer a de novo calcium-binding site into a non-calcium-binding protein.
- To achieve selective calcium binding over magnesium.
- To explore the feasibility of designing functional metalloproteins.
Main Methods:
- De novo design of a calcium-binding site.
- Integration of the designed site into the CD2 domain 1 protein framework.
- Characterization of the engineered protein's metal-binding properties.
Main Results:
- Successfully introduced a high coordination number (seven) calcium-binding site into a beta-sheet protein.
- Engineered protein exhibits selective calcium binding over magnesium.
- Achieved calcium-binding affinity (K(d) of 50 microM) comparable to natural proteins.
Conclusions:
- Demonstrates the feasibility of designing single calcium-binding sites into host proteins.
- Highlights the importance of local site properties in metal selectivity.
- Paves the way for designing novel calcium-modulated proteins for specific functions and stability.
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