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A screen is introduced for detecting protein-protein interactions based on reassembly of dissected fragments of green fluorescent protein fused to interacting peptides. A set of comaintained Escherichia coli plasmids for the facile subcloning of fusions to the green fluorescent protein fragments is presented.

Abstract Background The recent explosion in the availability of complete genome sequences has led to the cataloging of tens of thousands of new proteins and putative proteins. Many of these proteins can be structurally or functionally categorized from sequence conservation alone. In contrast, little attention has been given to the meaning of poorly-conserved sites in families of proteins, which are typically assumed to be of little structural or functional importance. Results Recently, using statistical free energy analysis of tetratricopeptide repeat (TPR) domains, we observed that positions in contact with peptide ligands are more variable than surface positions in general. Here we show that statistical analysis of TPRs, ankyrin repeats, Cys2His2 zinc fingers and PDZ domains accurately identifies specificity-determining positions by their sequence variation. Sequence variation is measured as deviation from a neutral reference state, and we present probabilistic and information theory formalisms that improve upon recently suggested methods such as statistical free energies and sequence entropies. Conclusion Sequence variation has been used to identify functionally-important residues in four selected protein families. With TPRs and ankyrin repeats, protein families that bind highly diverse ligands, the effect is so pronounced that sequence "hypervariation" alone can be used to predict ligand binding sites.

The concept of consensus in multiple sequence alignments (MSAs) has been used to design and engineer proteins previously with some success. However, consensus design implicitly assumes that all amino acid positions function independently, whereas in reality, the amino acids in a protein interact with each other and work cooperatively to produce the optimum structure required for its function. Correlation analysis is a tool that can capture the effect of such interactions. In a previously published study, we made consensus variants of the triosephosphate isomerase (TIM) protein using MSAs that included sequences form both prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. These variants were not completely native‐like and were also surprisingly different from each other in terms of oligomeric state, structural dynamics, and activity. Extensive correlation analysis of the TIM database has revealed some clues about factors leading to the unusual behavior of the previously constructed consensus proteins. Among other things, we have found that the more ill‐behaved consensus mutant had more broken correlations than the better‐behaved consensus variant. Moreover, we report three correlation and phylogeny‐based consensus variants of TIM. These variants were more native‐like than the previous consensus mutants and considerably more stable than a wild‐type TIM from a mesophilic organism. This study highlights the importance of choosing the appropriate diversity of MSA for consensus analysis and provides information that can be used to engineer stable enzymes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The abilities of human serum paraoxonase-1 (HuPON1) , G2E6, G3C9, and several variants to hydrolyze phenyl acetate, paraoxon, and V-type OP nerve agents were examined to address the importance of these amino acid differences. The study results helped to discover the first variant of HuPON1, H115W, that displayed significantly enhanced catalytic activity against an authentic V-type nerve agent.

A high-throughput thermal scanning (HTTS) method based on binding to a hydrophobic dye akin to ANS is used for determining the appropriate stabilities of protein variants at high throughput and low cost. This method has enabled the search for conservative, stable mutants of biotechnologically important proteins and has provided a method for statistical correlation of sequence-stability relationships.

Er-23 is a small, 51 amino acid, disulfide-rich pheromone protein used for cell signaling by Euplotes raikovi. Ten of the 51 amino acids are cysteine, allowing up to five disulfide bonds. Previous NMR work with Er-23 utilized homologously expressed protein, prohibiting isotopic labeling, and consequently the chemical shift assignments were incomplete. We have expressed uniformly 15N and 13C-labeled Er-23 in an E. coli expression system. Here we report the full backbone and side chain resonance assignments for recombinant Er-23. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Optical surgical navigation (OSN) will be a potent tool to help surgeons more accurately and efficiently remove tumors. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a novel humanized 3E8 antibody (3E8 MAb) fragment site-specifically conjugated with IR800, 3E8.scFv.Cys-IR800, as a potential OSN agent to target colorectal adenocarcinoma.Procedures: An engineered single-chain variable fragment of 3E8 MAb (targeted to TAG-72), appending a C-terminal cysteine residue (3E8.scFv.Cys), was created and reacted with IRDye800-maleimide. 3E8.scFv.Cys-IR800 identity and purity were verified by MALDI-TOF mass spectra and 800 nm detected size exclusion column HPLC. In vitro human colon adenocarcinoma LS-174 T cells binding and competition assay validated biological functionality. We further evaluated the imaging ability and receptor-specific binding of 3E8.scFv.Cys-IR800 in an orthotopic LS-174 T mouse model.Results: A 1:1 dye to protein conjugate was achieved at greater than 90 % HPLC purity. A 1 nmol dose of 3E8.scFv.Cys-IR800 via intraperitoneal injection administration was sufficient to produce high tumor to background fluorescence contrast. Blocking competition studies both in vitro and in vivo using a different blocking protein, 3E8ΔCH2, demonstrated 3E8.scFv.Cys-IR800 binding specificity for TAG-72 antigen.Conclusions: 3E8.scFv.Cys-IR800 shows properties useful in a clinically viable OSN agent for colorectal cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]