Folding Nucleus Symmetric Expansion

The present technology is a novel method and design strategy for the efficient design of de novo proteins. This invention uses experimental or computation methods to identify an amino acid sequence that defines a folding nucleus of a protein that belongs to a symmetric protein architecture. Next, a complete amino acid sequence for the target architecture is generated by expanding the folding nucleus sequence by the intrinsic symmetry. The resulting protein will have robust folding properties that can tolerate subsequent mutational introduction of novel function. This process is an efficient means to create novel protein scaffolds with robust folding properties.

Advantages:

• Leverages knowledge of naturally-evolved proteins for application in the design of novel proteins
• Uses a simple algorithm that permits design of the complete protein
• Produces a protein with highly-redundant folding potential- a protein that can therefore tolerate substantial mutational change and still yield a foldable protein.