"Breeding Proteins"

Frances Arnold
Caltech

Abstract

Proteins are large molecules (typically >104 atoms) whose remarkable functions depend on intricate physical folding of their constituent amino acid chains. We are developing ways to ‘breed’ these molecules for novel or desirable activities. This approach circumvents our profound ignorance of how the amino acid sequence encodes protein function and exploits the ability of biological systems to evolve and innovate.  I will describe computational tools that assist the experimental search for new proteins by identifying elements of structure that can be swapped, or recombined, among related proteins.  Recombining these elements generates sets of proteins that are typically far more diverse than the known natural sequences in any given protein family.  These laboratory-generated proteins can exhibit interesting behaviors not known in nature.