Protein engineering articles within Nature

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• Article
  12 December 2022 | Open Access

  Programming multicellular assembly with synthetic cell adhesion molecules

  Synthetic cell adhesion molecules yield customized cell–cell interactions with adhesion properties that are similar to native interactions, and offer abilities for cell and tissue engineering and for systematically studying multicellular organization.

  • Adam J. Stevens
  • , Andrew R. Harris
  •  & Wendell A. Lim

• Article | 23 October 2019

  Engineering orthogonal signalling pathways reveals the sparse occupancy of sequence space

  Engineered two-component signalling proteins in Escherichia coli have residue specificities different to their parent proteins and are orthogonal to all extant paralogues, demonstrating that sequence space is not densely occupied.

  • Conor J. McClune
  • , Aurora Alvarez-Buylla
  •  & Michael T. Laub

• Letter | 07 October 2012

  The spatial architecture of protein function and adaptation

  A high-throughput mutagenesis study in a PDZ domain shows that biochemical function and adaptation primarily originate from a collectively evolving amino acid network within the structure termed a protein sector.

  • Richard N. McLaughlin Jr
  • , Frank J. Poelwijk
  •  & Rama Ranganathan

• Review Article | 09 May 2012

  Engineering the third wave of biocatalysis

  Over the past ten years, protein engineering has established biocatalysis as a practical and environmentally friendly alternative to traditional forms of catalysis both in the laboratory and in industry.

  • U. T. Bornscheuer
  • , G. W. Huisman
  •  & K. Robins

• News & Views | 25 April 2012

  Tighter ties that bind

  A stepwise process of mutation and structural analysis has modulated a flexible binding interface of an immune-cell signalling protein, interleukin-2, and generated mutant proteins with enhanced anticancer activity. See Article p.529

  • Eric T. Boder

• News & Views | 19 January 2011

  Catalytic detoxification

  Protein engineering of an enzyme that catalytically detoxifies organophosphate compounds in the body opens up fresh opportunities in the search for therapeutic protection against nerve agents used in chemical warfare.

  • Frank M. Raushel

• News & Views | 27 October 2010

  Longer-lived proteins

  Short residence times in the bloodstream reduce the effectiveness of protein drugs. Application of an approach that combines protein and polymer engineering prolongs circulation time and increases drug uptake by tumours.

  • Jeffrey A. Hubbell

• Letter | 14 February 2010

  Encoding multiple unnatural amino acids via evolution of a quadruplet-decoding ribosome

  Although new amino acids with desirable properties can be devised, only a few have been successfully introduced into proteins by the cellular machinery. Even then, only one type of unnatural amino acid can be added to a given protein. Here, a new system has been designed that could allow the incorporation of up to 200 novel amino acids. The system involves an orthogonal ribosome that uses quadruplet — rather than triplet — codons, as well as orthogonal tRNA synthetase–tRNA pairs.

  • Heinz Neumann
  • , Kaihang Wang
  •  & Jason W. Chin