Functional Molecules and Materials Research Theme Seminar
Speaker: Professor Dek Woolfson, UOB
Title: Delving and Designing into the Dark Matter of Protein Space
Abstract:Protein design—i.e., the construction of entirely new protein sequences that fold into prescribed structures—has come of age: it is now possible to generate a wide variety stable protein folds from scratch using rational and/or computational approaches. A new challenge for the field is to move past protein structures offered up by nature and to target the so-called ‘dark matter of protein space’; that is, protein structures that should be possible in terms of chemistry and physics, but which biology seems to have overlook or not used prolifically. This talk will illustrate what is currently possible in this nascent field using de novo a-helical coiled-coil peptides as building blocks.1
Coiled coils are bundles of 2 or more a helices that wrap around each other to form rope-like structures. They are one of the dominant structures that direct natural protein-protein interactions. Our understanding of coiled coils provides a strong basis for building new proteins from first principles. The first part of my talk will survey this understanding,1 our design methods,2,3 and our current “toolkit” of de novo coiled coils.4-5
Next, I will describe how the toolkit can be expanded used to generate some dark-matter protein structures. I’ll focus on the rational and computational design of a-helical barrel proteins, which have 5 or more helices surrounding accessible central channels.6 Finally, I’ll discuss how these synthetic barrel proteins can be put to use to make new nanotube materials,7 rudimentary catalysts,8 membrane-spanning pores,9 and the components of a new types of sensing devices.10
Academic Host: Dr Sebastien Rochat
This seminar will be held online, details tbc