Construction of Allosteric Protein Switches by Alternate Frame Folding and Intermolecular Fragment Exchange

Alternate frame folding (AFF) and protein/fragment exchange (FREX) are related technologies for engineering allosteric conformational changes into proteins that have no pre-existing allosteric properties. One of their chief purposes is to turn an ordinary protein into a biomolecular switch capable of transforming an input event into an optical or functional readout. Here, we present a guide for converting an arbitrary binding protein into a fluorescent biosensor with Förster resonance energy transfer output. Because the AFF and FREX mechanisms are founded on general principles of protein structure and stability rather than a property that is idiosyncratic to the target protein, the basic design steps-choice of permutation/cleavage sites, molecular biology, and construct optimization-remain the same for any target protein. We highlight effective strategies as well as common pitfalls based on our experience with multiple AFF and FREX constructs.