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How to design a protein that can be switched on and off

Proteins have been designed that assemble in different ways depending on whether an ‘effector’ molecule is present — a demonstration of allostery, the phenomenon that enables switch-like control of protein functions in nature.
  1. A. Joshua Wand

    1. A. Joshua Wand is in the Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics, College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, USA.

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In the everyday world, it is simple to switch on a lamp to read, or to adjust a dimmer to create romantic lighting for dinner. But the systems that achieve similar control of biomolecule function are complex and only partly understood. Indeed, it has taken evolution billions of years to generate intricate signalling networks of molecules to control the countless biological processes that enable humans to survive, procreate and think. Writing in Nature, Pillai et al.1 report a design approach that acts as a shortcut for evolution. The authors thereby achieve switch-like control of the assembly of protein molecules, inspired by early models of allostery — the process by which a protein transmits the effect of the binding of a molecule at one site to another, distant site in that protein.

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Nature 632, 741-742 (2024)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-02242-7

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The author declares no competing interests.

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