One billion-year-old rules of protein stability revealed; could lead to faster drug and enzyme design
edited by Stephanie Baum, reviewed by Andrew Zinin
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Proteins are life's molecular workhorses, doing everything from turning sunlight into food to fighting viruses. They are built from 20 different types of amino acid molecules, so even a small protein made of 60 amino acids in length can, in theory, be constructed in a quinquavigintillion (1078) different ways. That's about as many atoms as there are in the entire universe.
How did evolution choose the handful of amino acid combinations that result in proteins which fold, stay stable and get the job done? And can we learn these rules to help protein engineers design better medicines and greener catalysts? A study published today in the journal Science has taken an important step toward answering both questions.
