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by zippy5 1682 days ago
I think it could be Nobel Prize worthy. Protein’s structure often determines its effect as a catalyst. So to map the DNA to the 2nd order outcomes seems like it could be the missing ingredient to controlling the properties of cells.

Personally I’m hoping that someone smarter than me figures out how to displace existing catalysts like platinum and palladium. Seems like it could be a pretty penny and some positive environmental impact to boot.

2 comments

Protein catalysts almost always contain an inorganic atom. We will be able to make more efficient catalysts with better understanding of protein structure but the need for metals won't necessarily go away.
The protein catalysts can utilize more common metal ions instead of the rarer metals. Placing an iron atom in the right protein structure will affect the reaction probabilities.
Pt and Pd are pretty different from proteins in terms of the reactions they’re used to catalyze, but check out https://opencatalystproject.org/
This is wonderful. I’m going to see if there is anything I can build for this.