Scientists manufacture proteins

PHOENIX, May 23 (UPI) -- A U.S. research team reports succeeding in evolving several new proteins in a fraction of the 3-billion-year period it took nature to do the same.

An Arizona State University Biodesign Institute research team, led by John Chaput, used a molecular biology process they call "synthetic evolution" to produce proteins that have never existed in nature.

"The goal of our research is to understand certain fundamental questions regarding the origin and evolution of proteins," said Chaput, an assistant professor in the university's department of chemistry and biochemistry. "Would proteins that we evolve in the lab look like proteins we see today in nature or do they look totally different from the set of proteins nature ultimately chose? By gaining a better understanding of these questions, we hope to one day create new tailor-made catalysts that can be used as therapeutics in molecular medicine or biocatalysts in biotechnology."

The researchers -- including Harvard collaborator Jack Szostak, and Arizona State University colleagues Jim Allen, Meitian Wang, Matthew Rosenow and Matthew Smith -- report their findings in the May 23 edition of the online journal PLoS ONE.