Development of a new fold protein structure prediction method using rewiring known folds

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K07315
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Biophysics
• Research Institution: Nagoya University
• Principal Investigator: Chikenji George 名古屋大学, 工学研究科, 助教 (10420366)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: タンパク質

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Understanding the relationship between the amino acid sequence of a protein and its native structure is not only interesting as a genetic code deciphering problem, but also important in terms of medical applications. In this study, we focused on the rewiring technique of known structures, which is one of the methods that can predict the 3D structure of proteins with novel folds. The most important thing of the rewiring technique is to distinguish between physically permissible folds and impossible ones, but until now there has been no standard for distinguishing this. In the present study, we find that the frustration of the local structure rule is the criterion for this. The results are useful not only for three-dimensional structure prediction, but also for target structure selection in rational protein design.

Free Research Field

生物物理

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

タンパク質の天然構造をそのアミノ酸配列のみから予測したり（立体構造予測）、逆に望みの立体構造を持つアミノ酸配列を予測すること（デザイン）は、遺伝暗号解読問題として興味深いばかりでなく、医学的な応用という観点でも重要である。立体構造予測とデザインの両方を行う際に、どのような構造がタンパク質の天然構造になりうるのかを把握しておくことは問題を解く上で本質的に重要である。本研究では立体構造予測の研究を通して、これまで知られていなかった天然構造の条件の一つを明らかにする事が出来た。