A quantitative methodology for the de novo design of proteins

We have developed a general quantitative methodology for designing proteins de novo, which automatically produces sequences for any given plausible protein structure. The method incorporates statistical information, a theoretical description of protein structure, and motifs described in the literature. A model system embodying a portion of the quantitative methodology has been used to design many protein sequences for the phage 434 Cro and fibronectin type III domain folds, as well as several other structures. Residue sequences selected by this prototype share no significant identity with any natural protein. Nonetheless, 3-dimensional models of the designed sequences appear generally plausible. When examined using secondary structure prediction methods and profile analysis, the designed sequences generally score considerably better than the natural ones. The designed sequences are also in reasonable agreement with a sequence template. This quantitative methodology is likely to be capable of successfully designing new proteins and yielding fundamental insights about the determinants of protein structure.