Computational structure-based protein design programs are becoming an increasingly important tool in molecular biology. These programs compute protein sequences that are predicted to fold to a target structure and perform a desired function. The success of a program's predictions largely relies on two components: first, the input biophysical model, and second, the algorithm that computes the be...

Protein chemistry has uncovered an apparently boundless variety and efficiency with which nature’s proteins perform their functions. They are a powerful incentive to attempt emulating nature’s marvels for our purposes. Alas, insofar as the terms ‘design’ and ‘engineering’ imply a rational, planned approach to the creation or modification of protein structure and function, both still remain beyo...

For various reasons, it seems sensible to redesign or design proteins from the inside out. Past approaches in this field have involved iterations of mutagenesis and characterisation to 'evolve' designs. Increasingly, combinatorial approaches are being taken to select 'fit' sequences from libraries of variant proteins. In particular, in silico methods have been used to good effect. More recently...

Objective: The aim of this experiment was to determine chemical composition, protein quality of corn gluten meal (CGM) and its effect on growth performance of broiler chicks. Methods: Chemical composition and nitrogen corrected true metabolizable energy of CGM was determined by standard and precision-fed cockerel assay methods.  For evaluating of protein quality, 90 male broiler chicks in a com...