Functional proteins emerge from libraries of random sequences

Summary

Functional proteins can emerge from large libraries of random sequences (1). From a library of $6\ast 10^{12}$ 80-residue sequences, four bind ATP. One binding at 100 nM to 10 µM affinity using a zinc ion coordinated by a CXXC motif. The exact experiment is described in (1) and allows these random sequences to evolve.

Details

The authors estimate that 1 out of $10^{11}$ random sequences bind ATP, and that this ratio is similar to recovery of ATP-binding RNAs (find citation in paper).

See also

• Most random mutants are nonfunctional

1.

Keefe AD, Szostak JW. Functional proteins from a random-sequence library. Nature. 2001;410(6829):715–8. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1038/35070613