Rational Design of Adenylate Kinase Thermostability through Coevolution and Sequence Divergence Analysis

oleh: Jian Chang, Chengxin Zhang, Huaqiang Cheng, Yan-Wen Tan

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2021-03-01

Deskripsi

Protein engineering is actively pursued in industrial and laboratory settings for high thermostability. Among the many protein engineering methods, rational design by bioinformatics provides theoretical guidance without time-consuming experimental screenings. However, most rational design methods either rely on protein tertiary structure information or have limited accuracies. We proposed a primary-sequence-based algorithm for increasing the heat resistance of a protein while maintaining its functions. Using adenylate kinase (ADK) family as a model system, this method identified a series of amino acid sites closely related to thermostability. Single- and double-point mutants constructed based on this method increase the thermal denaturation temperature of the mesophilic <i>Escherichia coli</i> (<i>E. coli</i>) ADK by 5.5 and 8.3 °C, respectively, while preserving most of the catalytic function at ambient temperatures. Additionally, the constructed mutants have improved enzymatic activity at higher temperature.