Artificial Proteins Assembled from Scratch
Proteins are vital components of every cell. They activate genes, enable motion, catalyze
biochemical reactions--the list goes on. Biotechnologists are thus understandably eager to unravel
their every secret: only with a thorough comprehension of natural proteins can they engineer novel
ones with special properties.
Findings published online today by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences represent
intriguing progress on that front. Current efforts to construct new proteins follow two approaches.
In the first, scientists painstakingly design strings of the protein building-blocks known as amino
acids according to the atomic interactions of the entire molecule. In the second, amino acids are
randomly thrown together in all manner of combinations, the logic being that given enough
combinations, a promising new protein should result sooner or later.
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Kind Regards, Robert Karl Stonjek.