Prosthetic proteins
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ChemSci Pick of the Week
We鈥檙e familiar with the idea of prosthetic limbs, but what about prosthetic protein components?
Proteins 鈥� large, complex, folded molecules comprised of strings of amino acid building blocks 鈥� perform the functions in plants and animals that are needed to sustain life.
Their function comes not only from the activity of the various amino acids, but also from the overall shape and structure of the folded protein chain. It is this that led Professor Andrew Wilson at the University of Leeds to wonder if it would be possible to replace some sections of the protein with synthetic alternatives that have the same broad structure.
Professor Wilson and his team have used a foldamer 鈥� a polymer that folds in a predictable way 鈥� to replace a section of the protein. They found that the protein was still able to perform its intended function 鈥� albeit less efficiently.
The field is in its early days, but Professor Wilson believes that one day we will be able to use this knowledge to build molecular machines to use in everything from biotechnology and healthcare to materials.
"Learning how to systematically build functional complex molecules piece-by-piece is a fundamental challenge and passing this frontier will represent a milestone in being able synthesise complex life-like systems", he says.
"What we have done is analogous to replacement of a body part such as a hip replacement. Right now what we have achieved is prosthesis, in that we have replaced part of the protein with something that 鈥榤anages the job鈥� but as we move forward the vision would be to create a bionic protein, that is something that has advantageous or superior properties and function."
This article is free to read in our open access, flagship journal Chemical 新月直播app下载: Andrew J. Wilson et al., Chem. Sci., 2019, Advance Article. . You can access our 2019 ChemSci Picks in this .
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