Making the Cut
Scientists exploit proteins that perform surgery upon themselves
Some proteins
contain a portion that cuts itself out and melds the two remaining
fragments together to form the final, active molecule.
References:
Camarero, J.A.,
and T.W. Muir. 1999. Biosynthesis of a head-to-tail cyclized protein
with improved biological activity. Journal of the American Chemical
Society 121(June 16):5597.
Cotton, G.J. . .
. and T.W. Muir. 1999. Insertion of a synthetic peptide into a
recombinant protein framework: A protein biosensor. Journal of the
American Chemical Society 121(Feb. 10):1100.
Evans Jr., T.C.,
J. Benner, and M.-Q. Xu. 1999. The cyclization and polymerization of
bacterially expressed proteins using modified self-splicing inteins. Journal
of Biological Chemistry 274(June 25):18359.
______. 1998.
Semisynthesis of cytotoxic proteins using a modified protein splicing
element. Protein Science 7:2256.
Perler, F.B.
1998. Protein splicing of inteins and hedgehog autoproteolysis:
Structure, function, and evolution. Cell 92(Jan. 9):1.
Wood, D.W. . . .
and M. Belfort. 1999. A genetic system yields self-cleaving inteins
for bioseparations. Nature Biotechnology 17(September):889.
Wu, H., Z. Hu,
and X.-Q. Liu. 1998. Protein trans-splicing by a split intein
encoded in a split DnaE gene of Synechocystis sp. PCC6803. Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences 95(Aug. 4):9226.
Xu, R. . . . and
T.W. Muir. 1999. Chemical ligation of folded recombinant proteins:
Segmental isotopic labeling of domains for NMR studies. Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences 96(Jan. 19):388.
Further Readings:
Amitai, G., and S.
Pietrokovski. 1999. Fine-tuning an engineered intein. Nature
Biotechnology 17(September):854.
Cotton, G.J., and
T.W. Muir. 1999. Peptide ligation and its application to protein
engineering. Chemistry & Biology 6(September):R247.
Yu, H. 1999.
Extending the size limit of protein nuclear magnetic resonance. Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences 96(Jan. 19):332.
Additional
information about inteins can be found at http://blocks.fhcrc.org/~pietro/inteins/.
Sources:
Marlene Belfort
New York State Department of Health
Wadsworth Center
Albany, NY 12201-2002
Thomas C. Evans
Jr.
New England Biolabs, Inc.
32 Tozer Road
Beverly, MA 01915-5599
Xiang-Qin Liu
Dalhousie University
Biochemistry Department
Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4H7
Canada
Tom W. Muir
Rockefeller University
Laboratory of Synthetic Protein Chemistry
1230 York Avenue
New York, NY 10021
Henry Paulus
Boston Biomedical Research Institute
20 Staniford Street
Boston, MA 02114
Francine B.
Perler
New England Biolabs, Inc.
32 Tozer Road
Beverly, MA 01915-5599
Ming-Qun Xu
New England Biolabs, Inc.
32 Tozer Road
Beverly, MA 01915-5599
From Science
News, Vol. 156, No. 14, October 2, 1999, p. 222. Copyright © 1999,
Science Service. |