De Novo Design of Proteins That Bind Naphthalenediimides, Powerful Photooxidants with Tunable Photophysical Properties.
Mann, S.I., Lin, Z., Tan, S.K., Zhu, J., Widel, Z.X.W., Bakanas, I., Mansergh, J.P., Liu, R., Kelly, M.J.S., Wu, Y., Wells, J.A., Therien, M.J., DeGrado, W.F.(2025) J Am Chem Soc 147: 7849-7858
- PubMed: 39982408 Search on PubMed
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.4c18151
- Primary Citation Related Structures: 
9DM3 - PubMed Abstract: 
De novo protein design provides a framework to test our understanding of protein function and build proteins with cofactors and functions not found in nature. Here, we report the design of proteins designed to bind powerful photooxidants and the evaluation of the use of these proteins to generate diffusible small-molecule reactive species. Because excited-state dynamics are influenced by the dynamics and hydration of a photooxidant's environment, it was important to not only design a binding site but also to evaluate its dynamic properties. Thus, we used computational design in conjunction with molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to design a protein, designated NBP ( N DI B inding P rotein), that held a naphthalenediimide (NDI), a powerful photooxidant, in a programmable molecular environment. Solution NMR confirmed the structure of the complex. We evaluated two NDI cofactors in this de novo protein using ultrafast pump-probe spectroscopy to evaluate light-triggered intra- and intermolecular electron transfer function. Moreover, we demonstrated the utility of this platform to activate multiple molecular probes for protein labeling.
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94158-9001, United States.
Organizational Affiliation: 
















