
via Curtin University
The building blocks of life-saving therapeutics could be developed in days instead of years thanks to new software that simulates evolution.
Proseeker is the name of a new computational tool that mimics the processes of natural selection, producing proteins that can be used for a range of medicinal and household uses.
The enzymes in your laundry detergent, the insulin in your diabetes medication or the antibodies used in cancer therapy are currently made in the laboratory using a painstaking process called directed evolution.
Laboratory evolution mimics natural evolution by making mutations in naturally-sourced proteins and selecting the best mutants, to be mutated and selected again, in a time-intensive and laborious process that creates useful proteins.
Scientists at the ARC Centre of Excellence in Synthetic Biology have now discovered a way to perform the entire process of directed evolution using a computer. It can reduce the time required from many months or even years to just days.
The team was led by Professor Oliver Rackham, Curtin University, in collaboration with Professor Aleksandra Filipovska, the University of Western Australia, and is based at the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research in Perth, Western Australia.
To prove how useful this process could be they took a protein with no function at all and gave it the ability to bind DNA.
‘Proteins that bind DNA are currently revolutionising the field of gene therapy where scientists are using them to reverse disease-causing mutations,’ says Professor Rackham. ‘So this could be of great use in the future.
‘Reconstituting the entire process of directed evolution represents a radical advance for the field.’
Original Article: Rebooting Evolution
More from: Curtin University | University of Western Australia | Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research
The Latest on: Simulating evolution
- Study: Blinking gamma ray bursts are explained by falling stardust and unsteady jetson July 5, 2022 at 4:55 am
This falling material tilts the disk, and, in turn, tilts the jet, which wobbles as it struggles to return to its original trajectory. The wobbling jet explains the longstanding mystery of why gamma ...
- The evolution of COVID-19 epidemiology in Italy over the first two years of the pandemicon July 5, 2022 at 2:26 am
A recent study assessed the SARS-CoV-2 lethality and severity during the two years of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Italy.
- 5 Questions We Have After The End Of Jurassic World Evo 2on July 1, 2022 at 7:30 am
While the story mode of Jurassic World Evolution was significant - totaling a whopping 24 hours - the campaign mode in Jurassic World Evolution 2 is a little shorter. This roughly five-hour-long ...
- The Evolution Of Space Suits Explainedon June 30, 2022 at 2:04 pm
Space suits started from humble beginnings and have evolved over the decades to become modern marvels of research and development.
- Falling stardust, wobbly jets explain blinking gamma ray burstson June 29, 2022 at 10:45 am
Astrophysicists have developed the first 3D simulation of the entire evolution of a jet -- from its birth by a rotating black hole to its emission far from the collapsing star. Simulation shows that ...
- New Cadence Xcelium Apps Accelerate Simulation-Based Verification for Automotive, Mobile and Hyperscale Designson June 29, 2022 at 9:02 am
New Cadence Xcelium Apps Accelerate Simulation-Based Verification for Automotive, Mobile and Hyperscale Designs. Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: CDNS) today announced Xceliu ...
- Gamma-ray bursts might be much rarer than we thought, study suggestson June 29, 2022 at 8:32 am
The first-ever 3D simulation of the formation of a black hole jet reveals why mysterious gamma-ray bursts appear to blink and suggests that these mysterious phenomena might be much rarer than ...
- New Cadence Xcelium Apps Accelerate Simulation-Based Verification for Automotive, Mobile and Hyperscale Designson June 29, 2022 at 8:10 am
"Xcelium Apps are the next step in the evolution of logic simulation performance," said Paul Cunningham, senior vice president and general manager of the System & Verification Group at Cadence.
- Insights into Cenozoic environmental change and ecosystem evolutionon June 28, 2022 at 7:31 am
The growth of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) during the Cenozoic drove dramatic climate and environmental change in this region. However, there has been a limited amount of research on long-term ...
- Best Jurassic World Evolution 2 Modson June 25, 2022 at 3:30 pm
Evolution 2 is Frontier Developments' sequel in its business and park-building simulator. Like Jurassic World: Evolution and the long-ago Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis before it, the player must ...
via Bing News
The Latest on: Simulating evolution
via Google News
Add Comment