Design and Application of Metal-Binding Proteins
A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Medicinal Chemistry".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2019) | Viewed by 33212
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Metal-binding proteins are ubiquitously employed across all kingdoms of life to perform a remarkable array of critical functions. In metabolic pathways, the committed, irreversible, or key regulatory reaction steps are often mediated by metalloenzymes. Other than catalysis, Metal-binding proteins perform heavy metal accumulation, cellular sensing and signaling, gene regulation, transfer (e.g., electron, O2), and structural roles linked to protein-protein or protein-DNA interactions. Reaching a satisfying understanding of the mechanisms by which metals carry out these functions requires the coordinated application of many approaches and expertise from many disciplines. The knowledge gained has already been widely utilized to design metal-binding proteins and peptides for bioremediation, detoxification, biomedical imaging, biofuel, and synthesis of pharmaceuticals. One of the latest Nobel prizes in Chemistry was awarded last year to Dr. Frances H. Arnold “for the directed evolution of enzymes,” highlighting the pioneering work and accomplishments in the protein engineering field for creating new enzymes to manufacture everything that brings the most significant benefit to humankind. This major award was also a call to the scientific community for more attention and appreciation for protein design and applications. In this Special Issue, we invite investigators to contribute original research articles, as well as review articles that are related to the design and implementation of metal-binding proteins. We are particularly interested in but are not limited to, research that involves de novo protein design, directed evolution, rational design of metal-binding proteins, including using genetic code expansion approaches, for both mechanistic understandings and industrial or medical applications.
Prof. Aimin Liu
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- Metals in biology
- Protein engineering
- Protein design
- Directed evolution
- Metalloproteins
- Metals in medicine
- Metals in signaling
- Protein structure-function relationships
- Unnatural amino acid
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