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by flyer_go 874 days ago
What would be the benefit of this?
2 comments
gilleain 874 days ago
Thermal stability, as far as I know. So hyperthermophiles, presumably.

edit: hmmm. from this interesting review - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959440X2... (open article) - it looks like some knots might increase mechanical stability and resitance to proteolysis

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dekhn 874 days ago
Oh, cool- they turned a not-truly-a-knot (open ends) protein into a truly knotted one (connected ends) and then unfolded it using urea and it stayed knotted. That's what you'd expect but it's also pretty cool.
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iouwhldkfjgklj 874 days ago
It's interesting. That's the benefit.
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dekhn 874 days ago
Protein design is a multi-billion dollar field.

A single observation- thermostable proteases- was incorporated into modern laundry detergents, making Genentech and Corning billions of dollars in IP.

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photonthug 874 days ago
A category theory textbook opens the "motivation and use cases" section with the following poem:

There's a tiresome young man in Bayshore. / When his fiance cried 'I adore / the beautiful sea' / he replied 'I agree, / it's pretty, but what is it for?'

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