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Updated: Jun 7, 2025

A Protocol for Functional Assessment of Whole-Protein Saturation Mutagenesis Libraries Utilizing High-Throughput Sequencing
Published on: July 3, 2016
Transition Path Sampling Based Free Energy Calculations of Evolution's Effect on Rates in β-Lactamase: The
Clara F Frost1, Dimitri Antoniou1, Steven D Schwartz1
1Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, United States.
Abstract:
β-Lactamases are one of the primary enzymes responsible for antibiotic resistance and have existed for billions of years. The structural differences between a modern class A TEM-1 β-lactamase compared to a sequentially reconstructed Gram-negative bacteria β-lactamase are minor. Despite the similar structures and mechanisms, there are different functions between the two enzymes. We recently identified differences in dynamics effects that result from evolutionary changes that could potentially account for the increase in substrate specificity and catalytic rate. In this study, we used transition path sampling-based calculations of free energies to identify how evolutionary changes found between an ancestral β-lactamase, and its extant counterpart TEM-1 β-lactamase affect rate.
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