Protein design gets its first customized crystal
Protein design has proven to be a valuable technique to various industries from biochemistry to engineering. Chemists at the University of Pennsylvania were able to take it a step further with the first custom-designed protein crystal. The researchers aimed to build a crystal using a relatively small protein containing a sequence of 26 amino acid positions. The researchers had to account for other characteristics, such as the spacing between proteins and their orientation with respect to one another. These variables multiplied the large number of possibilities, so maximizing the efficiency of the search was a priority. Though they achieved their goal, the target crystal the researchers created is just a proof of concept. The researchers’ discovery represents an important technique for better understanding the principles behind protein crystallization and the many variables involved.