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1497: Aflatoxin Challenge: Round 5

Closed since almost 8 years ago

Intermediate Overall Design

Summary

Created
March 14, 2018
Expires
Max points
100
Description

The aflatoxin puzzles are back! This puzzle is very similar to Puzzle 1440: Aflatoxin Challenge: Round 1, but parts of the scaffold protein have been trimmed to reduce the size of the puzzle, and we've upweighted ligand interactions by a factor of five. We'd like to see if Foldit players can design proteins that make more interactions with the ligand! See the blog for more details. Unfortunately, due to the scaffold trimming and the recent Foldit update, players will not be able to load solutions from Puzzle 1440.



Aflatoxins are a class of poisonous compounds that contaminate a significant portion of the global food supply. In this puzzle, players are challenged to redesign an enzyme that could break down aflatoxin molecules. The majority of the protein is frozen, with the aflatoxin ligand fixed in a binding pocket. Surrounding the binding pocket are a number of loops that might be redesigned without affecting the folding stability of the protein. In these loops, players may manipulate the protein backbone and mutate the residue sidechains. Redesign the loops of this protein to better bind the aflatoxin ligand!



This is the fifth puzzle of our Aflatoxin Challenge, sponsored by Mars Inc. and Thermo Fisher Scientific. Promising designs will be tested by the Siegel Lab at UC Davis. By participating in the challenge/game, the players agree that all player designs will be available permanently in the public domain, and the players will not seek intellectual property protection over the designs created as part of the challenge/game.

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Comments

Hanto Lv 1

Two week puzzle, no matter the trimming, AND it should have been run before the scoring changes. Personally believe a great deal of disrepect is being exhibited to the players. You made it clear that this puzzle deserved our greatest attention.

Susume Lv 1

In the View menu, turn on Show Bonds (non-protein), Show Bonds (sidechains), and Show Bondable Atoms. This will show you which atoms on the aflatoxin (the little molecule) can bond to which atoms on the protein (the big molecule). Red bonds to blue, and purple bonds to either red or blue.

For more info about the makeup of the aflatoxin molecule, look for LociOiling's posts in this thread: https://fold.it/portal/node/2004322#comment-35665

DoctorSockrates Lv 1

Are we doing multiple shorter rounds for this next set or is it going to be changed back to the longer timeframe we had in the first 4 rounds? Been wanting to know so I can schedule what folds I'm going to try.