Protein sequence analyses articles from across Nature Portfolio

Metrics that predict the success of folding and the activity of designed protein sequences are developed and experimentally validated.

Reynolds and colleagues examine a biochemically-mediated epistatic interaction between metabolic enzymes involved in folate metabolism and show that biochemical coupling shapes the range of enzyme activities sufficient to rescue cell growth.

Homologous protein search is one of the most commonly used methods for protein analysis. Here, authors propose PLMSearch, a search method that takes only sequences as input and can search millions of protein pairs in seconds while maintaining sensitivity comparable to SOTA structure search methods.

Many fusion oncoproteins (FOs) form condensates, some form in the nucleus and regulate gene expression while others form in the cytoplasm and promote cell signaling. In this work, the authors report the analysis of physicochemical features to enable prediction of FO condensation behavior.

This study reveals that the production of cobalamin and succinyl-CoA is increased in the anal microbiome of patients with precancerous anal lesions. Testing for these two metabolites significantly improves diagnostic accuracy over standard cytology screening, which suggests potential for enhanced screening strategies for anal cancer.

Newly sequenced organisms present a challenge for protein function prediction, as they lack experimental characterisation. A network-propagation approach that integrates functional network relationships with protein annotations, transferred from well-studied organisms, produces a more complete picture of the possible protein functions.

Intrinsically disordered protein polymers can be designed to encode tunable lower or upper critical solution temperatures in physiological solutions.