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1378: Hemagglutinin Binder Design: Loop Graft

Closed since almost 9 years ago

Intermediate

Summary

Created
May 15, 2017
Expires
Max points
100
Description

Note: This puzzle was closed early due to an error in the baseline score. The puzzle has been reposted as Puzzle 1378.



Design a protein that contains the provided hemagglutinin-binding loop! Hemagglutinin is a protein from the influenza virus. It is displayed on the surface of the virus capsid, and allows the virus to recognize and infiltrate human cells. One particular region of the hemagglutinin protein undergoes a dramatic shift during infection; it's thought that stabilizing this region (e.g. with a protein binder) can prevent the normal function of hemagglutinin and stop infection. In fact, during an influenza infection, the immune system can sometimes raise antibody proteins that bind this portion of hemagglutinin to defend against further infection. In this puzzle, we've provided a portion of the hemagglutinin protein, as well as a hemagglutinin-binding loop that is derived from one such antibody protein. We're asking Foldit players to design a new protein that incorporates this same loop!



The backbone and certain residues of the loop are fixed, and the loop is held in place with strong constraints. The starting structure of the design has 53 residues, but players may add residues up to a total of 63. Players may also delete and redistribute residues on either side of the prescribed binding loop. See the puzzle comments for filter details.

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Comments

bkoep Staff Lv 1

We've closed this puzzle and reposted it here to correct the scoring issue. It should now be easier to break out of negative scores.

We're aware of some further difficulties in gameplay, but don't have any easy solutions at this time. However, please keep us updated about any specific bugs that you encounter—especially client crashes!

Skippysk8s Lv 1

this puzzle seems to count all segments unless select only the two strings for a particular action. It is making it too slow to load, guaranteed to crash the client. Sadly, giving up