From: Peter C. McCluskey (pcm@rahul.net)
Date: Wed Feb 11 1998 - 15:16:01 MST
eugene@liposome.genebee.msu.su (Eugene Leitl) writes:
>On Thu, 5 Feb 1998, Peter C. McCluskey wrote:
>> >Doesn't _seem_. I do not see how I can engineer enzymes, and design
>> >good-fit complementary surfaces without a full-blown IPFP. Btw, granted
>>
>> Instead of engineering new proteins, just build things by attaching
>> known proteins to each other and to dna.
>
>The idea of autoassembly is based on complementary-surface alignment and
>noncovalent bonding of subblocks resulting in your desired space-filling.
>Noncovalent attachements require excellent precision, even more so
>covalent bonds (xref disulfide bond engineering difficulties in protein
>stabilization).
Space-filling isn't very usefull in the early stages of the pathway
I'm describing. The main goal is to produce hinges from proteins attached
at a few points to the adjacent protein or held in the right place by
dna attached to both proteins, and build "arms" with several degrees
of freedom out of this.
Attaching small pieces of dna to proteins is a bit easier than attaching
proteins to proteins, and Bruce and Markus say they have new ideas for
doing it better (they're keeping those ideas private for now).
There will be steps at which precise positioning of 2 proteins will
be important. The dna scaffolding should be able to provide this in the
earliest stages. In later stages, the "arms" will push the proteins into
appropriate places.
-- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Peter McCluskey | pcm@rahul.net | Has anyone used http://crit.org http://www.rahul.net/pcm | to comment on your web pages?
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