Recent years have seen a dramatic improvement in protein-design methodology. Nevertheless, most methods demand expert intervention, limiting their widespread adoption. By contrast, the PROSS algorithm for improving protein stability and heterologous expression levels has been successfully applied to a range of challenging enzymes and binding proteins. Here, we benchmark the application of PROSS as a stand-alone tool for protein scientists with no or limited experience in modeling. Twelve laboratories from the Protein Production and Purification Partnership in Europe (P4EU) challenged the PROSS algorithm with 14 unrelated protein targets without support from the PROSS developers. For each target, up to six designs were evaluated for expression levels and in some cases, for thermal stability and activity. In nine targets, designs exhibited increased heterologous expression levels either in prokaryotic and/or eukaryotic expression systems under experimental conditions that were tailored for each target protein. Furthermore, we observed increased thermal stability in nine of ten tested targets. In two prime examples, the human Stem Cell Factor (hSCF) and human Cadherin-Like Domain (CLD12) from the RET receptor, the wild type proteins were not expressible as soluble proteins in E. coli, yet the PROSS designs exhibited high expression levels in E. coli and HEK293 cells, respectively, and improved thermal stability. We conclude that PROSS may improve stability and expressibility in diverse cases, and that improvement typically requires target-specific expression conditions. This study demonstrates the strengths of community-wide efforts to probe the generality of new methods and recommends areas for future research to advance practically useful algorithms for protein science.

• Klíčová slova
• PROSS, Protein expression, Protein stability, Recombinant proteins, Rosetta,
• MeSH
• algoritmy * MeSH
• dánio pruhované MeSH
• Escherichia coli metabolismus   MeSH
• HEK293 buňky MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• molekulární modely MeSH
• proteiny chemie   metabolismus   MeSH
• rozpustnost MeSH
• rychlé screeningové testy MeSH
• stabilita proteinů * MeSH
• teplota MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• lidé MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Názvy látek
• proteiny MeSH

HotSpot Wizard 2.0 is a web server for automated identification of hot spots and design of smart libraries for engineering proteins' stability, catalytic activity, substrate specificity and enantioselectivity. The server integrates sequence, structural and evolutionary information obtained from 3 databases and 20 computational tools. Users are guided through the processes of selecting hot spots using four different protein engineering strategies and optimizing the resulting library's size by narrowing down a set of substitutions at individual randomized positions. The only required input is a query protein structure. The results of the calculations are mapped onto the protein's structure and visualized with a JSmol applet. HotSpot Wizard lists annotated residues suitable for mutagenesis and can automatically design appropriate codons for each implemented strategy. Overall, HotSpot Wizard provides comprehensive annotations of protein structures and assists protein engineers with the rational design of site-specific mutations and focused libraries. It is freely available at http://loschmidt.chemi.muni.cz/hotspotwizard.

• MeSH
• automatizace MeSH
• biokatalýza MeSH
• databáze proteinů MeSH
• internet * MeSH
• molekulární evoluce MeSH
• molekulární modely MeSH
• mutace * MeSH
• mutageneze cílená metody   MeSH
• peptidová knihovna * MeSH
• proteiny chemie   genetika   MeSH
• software * MeSH
• stabilita proteinů MeSH
• substituce aminokyselin MeSH
• substrátová specifita MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Názvy látek
• peptidová knihovna * MeSH
• proteiny MeSH

There is great interest in increasing proteins' stability to enhance their utility as biocatalysts, therapeutics, diagnostics and nanomaterials. Directed evolution is a powerful, but experimentally strenuous approach. Computational methods offer attractive alternatives. However, due to the limited reliability of predictions and potentially antagonistic effects of substitutions, only single-point mutations are usually predicted in silico, experimentally verified and then recombined in multiple-point mutants. Thus, substantial screening is still required. Here we present FireProt, a robust computational strategy for predicting highly stable multiple-point mutants that combines energy- and evolution-based approaches with smart filtering to identify additive stabilizing mutations. FireProt's reliability and applicability was demonstrated by validating its predictions against 656 mutations from the ProTherm database. We demonstrate that thermostability of the model enzymes haloalkane dehalogenase DhaA and γ-hexachlorocyclohexane dehydrochlorinase LinA can be substantially increased (ΔTm = 24°C and 21°C) by constructing and characterizing only a handful of multiple-point mutants. FireProt can be applied to any protein for which a tertiary structure and homologous sequences are available, and will facilitate the rapid development of robust proteins for biomedical and biotechnological applications.

• MeSH
• bodová mutace genetika   fyziologie   MeSH
• databáze genetické MeSH
• lyasy chemie   genetika   metabolismus   MeSH
• molekulární modely MeSH
• počítačová simulace MeSH
• proteinové inženýrství metody   MeSH
• stabilita enzymů genetika   MeSH
• teplota MeSH
• výpočetní biologie metody   MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Názvy látek
• lyasy MeSH

Single nucleotide variants represent a prevalent form of genetic variation. Mutations in the coding regions are frequently associated with the development of various genetic diseases. Computational tools for the prediction of the effects of mutations on protein function are very important for analysis of single nucleotide variants and their prioritization for experimental characterization. Many computational tools are already widely employed for this purpose. Unfortunately, their comparison and further improvement is hindered by large overlaps between the training datasets and benchmark datasets, which lead to biased and overly optimistic reported performances. In this study, we have constructed three independent datasets by removing all duplicities, inconsistencies and mutations previously used in the training of evaluated tools. The benchmark dataset containing over 43,000 mutations was employed for the unbiased evaluation of eight established prediction tools: MAPP, nsSNPAnalyzer, PANTHER, PhD-SNP, PolyPhen-1, PolyPhen-2, SIFT and SNAP. The six best performing tools were combined into a consensus classifier PredictSNP, resulting into significantly improved prediction performance, and at the same time returned results for all mutations, confirming that consensus prediction represents an accurate and robust alternative to the predictions delivered by individual tools. A user-friendly web interface enables easy access to all eight prediction tools, the consensus classifier PredictSNP and annotations from the Protein Mutant Database and the UniProt database. The web server and the datasets are freely available to the academic community at http://loschmidt.chemi.muni.cz/predictsnp.

• MeSH
• algoritmy MeSH
• databáze proteinů MeSH
• fylogeneze MeSH
• genetická variace MeSH
• genetické nemoci vrozené genetika   MeSH
• genom lidský MeSH
• internet MeSH
• jednonukleotidový polymorfismus * MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mutace * MeSH
• počítačová simulace MeSH
• software MeSH
• výpočetní biologie metody   MeSH
• Check Tag
• lidé MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH

Biomolecular channels play important roles in many biological systems, e.g. enzymes, ribosomes and ion channels. This article introduces a web-based interactive MOLEonline 2.0 application for the analysis of access/egress paths to interior molecular voids. MOLEonline 2.0 enables platform-independent, easy-to-use and interactive analyses of (bio)macromolecular channels, tunnels and pores. Results are presented in a clear manner, making their interpretation easy. For each channel, MOLEonline displays a 3D graphical representation of the channel, its profile accompanied by a list of lining residues and also its basic physicochemical properties. The users can tune advanced parameters when performing a channel search to direct the search according to their needs. The MOLEonline 2.0 application is freely available via the Internet at http://ncbr.muni.cz/mole or http://mole.upol.cz.

• MeSH
• cytochrom P-450 CYP3A chemie   MeSH
• enzymy chemie   MeSH
• internet MeSH
• iontové kanály chemie   MeSH
• konformace proteinů MeSH
• molekulární modely MeSH
• počítačová grafika MeSH
• ribozomy chemie   MeSH
• software * MeSH
• uživatelské rozhraní počítače MeSH
• velké podjednotky ribozomu archebakteriální chemie   MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Názvy látek
• cytochrom P-450 CYP3A MeSH
• enzymy MeSH
• iontové kanály MeSH

Engineering enzymes to degrade anthropogenic compounds efficiently is challenging. We obtained Rhodococcus rhodochrous haloalkane dehalogenase mutants with up to 32-fold higher activity than wild type toward the toxic, recalcitrant anthropogenic compound 1,2,3-trichloropropane (TCP) using a new strategy. We identified key residues in access tunnels connecting the buried active site with bulk solvent by rational design and randomized them by directed evolution. The most active mutant has large aromatic residues at two out of three randomized positions and two positions modified by site-directed mutagenesis. These changes apparently enhance activity with TCP by decreasing accessibility of the active site for water molecules, thereby promoting activated complex formation. Kinetic analyses confirmed that the mutations improved carbon-halogen bond cleavage and shifted the rate-limiting step to the release of products. Engineering access tunnels by combining computer-assisted protein design with directed evolution may be a valuable strategy for refining catalytic properties of enzymes with buried active sites.

• MeSH
• biodegradace MeSH
• cirkulární dichroismus MeSH
• hydrolasy chemie   genetika   metabolismus   MeSH
• látky znečišťující životní prostředí chemie   MeSH
• molekulární modely MeSH
• molekulární sekvence - údaje MeSH
• mutageneze cílená MeSH
• počítačová simulace MeSH
• propan analogy a deriváty   chemie   MeSH
• proteinové inženýrství * MeSH
• Rhodococcus enzymologie   genetika   růst a vývoj   MeSH
• řízená evoluce molekul MeSH
• vazebná místa MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Názvy látek
• 1,2,3-trichloropropane MeSH Prohlížeč
• haloalkane dehalogenase MeSH Prohlížeč
• hydrolasy MeSH
• látky znečišťující životní prostředí MeSH
• propan MeSH