Methods for detecting and developing protein-protein or protein-RNA interactions
Date
2014
Authors
Blakeley, Brett D., author
McNaughton, Brian, advisor
Kennan, Alan, committee member
Fisk, Nick, committee member
Reynolds, Melissa, committee member
Peersen, Olve, committee member
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Abstract
Potent and selective recognition of disease-relevant macromolecules - such as proteins and RNA - is the molecular basis of most pharmaceuticals . Historically, small (< 500 Da) molecules have filled this role. However, the overwhelming majority (~85%) of the proteome - and emerging therapeutic targets such as RNA - present a serious challenge to small molecule-dependent recognition. An alternative approach to potent and selective recognition and regulation of disease-relevant proteins and RNA is to use synthetic proteins. In contrast to small molecules, the size, relatively high folding energies (>10 kcal/mol) and functional group diversity (by virtue of proteinaceous amino acids) allow proteins to recognize - and potentially control - macromolecular receptors that evade small molecules. Presented here are two approaches to advancing the discovery of new proteins that recognize either disease-relevant protein or RNA targets. The first part of this thesis describes split superpositive GFP reassembly as a method to identify novel protein-protein interacting pairs in living cells (E. coli). The second part of this thesis describes basic studies to evaluate the suitability of a naturally occurring RNA Recognition Motif (RRM) as a scaffold for targeting disease-relevant RNA hairpins, and the development of new RRMs that target TAR RNA, a hairpin critical to HIV proliferation.