Changing protein function?

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I'm working on a project concerning protein function. There are many articles available about identifying proteins, but I'd like to experiment with changing protein function. Are there any credible sources that can help me carry out these steps or does anyone have experience with this type of project?

[deleted-370050]

Hi Dyanimarie,

Thanks for using Science Buddies! Could you elaborate a bit more about what you actually want to test in your experiment, i.e. what are your independent and dependent variables, what is your hypothesis? What exactly do you mean by “changing protein function”? A protein’s function is dependent on its structure; a protein’s structure it how it is folded and coiled based on hydrogen bonds and other interactions. Enzymes (a type of protein) are a good example of how a protein’s structure is important to its function: the shape of an enzyme corresponds to a specific substrate, if the enzyme’s shape changes, it can no longer fit with that substrate and thus can no longer break it down. To change a protein’s structure, one needs to alter its amino acid sequence. To alter the amino acid sequence, one needs to alter the DNA in the cell. Therefore to change a protein’s function, one must change a protein’s structure, and thus alter genes (composed of DNA). Furthermore, proteins always bind to other molecules, which will slightly alter their shape and so alter their functions.
These articles provide more information on protein structure and function, however if you provide us with additional information on your experiment we can be more helpful at finding specifically what you want.

http://www.unc.edu/depts/our/hhmi/hhmi- ... funxn.html
http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpag ... n-14123348

Good luck with your experiment!
~Catherine M.