Foldit Puzzles

1250: Revisiting Puzzle 58: Insulin Mutant

This is a throwback puzzle to the early days of Foldit. These are the two chains of a bio-engineered variant of human insulin, which together complete three disulfide bonds. We are revisiting old Foldit puzzles so we can see how useful the recent additions to the game have been.

1249: Electron Density Reconstruction 1

The structure of this protein has already been solved and published, but close inspection suggests that there are some problems with the published solution. We'd like to see if Foldit players can use the same electron density data to reconstruct a better model. Secondary structure predictions (from PSIPRED) are marked on the starting structure, and provide clues about where the protein might form helices and sheets!

1248: 75 Residue Monomer Design: Ideal Loop Filter

This puzzle features the new Ideal Loops Filter. The Ideal Loops Filter is meant to encourage the use of the Ideal Loops that are displayed in the Rama Map. It works similarly to the Fragment Filter (but much faster), and will yield a penalty when it detects a loop that does not conform to the ABEGO patterns in the Rama Map. The filter is meant to scan only loops, and will ignore any detected helices and sheets; use the Auto Structures tool to see which regions are considered "loops." See the puzzle comments for filter details. The Baker Lab will run folding predictions on your solutions for this puzzle, and those that perform well will be synthesized in the lab. Remember, you can use the Upload for Scientists button for up to 5 designs that you want us to look at, even if they are not the best-scoring solutions!

1247: Revisiting Puzzle 57: Beta-Neurotoxin

This is a throwback puzzle to the early days of Foldit. This scorpion toxin is similar to the one from Puzzle 55, and binds to voltage-gated ion channels of insects. The protein contains eight cysteine residues that oxidize to form four disulfide bonds. We are revisiting old Foldit puzzles so we can see how useful the recent additions to the game have been.

1246: Unsolved De-novo Freestyle 81: Predicted Contacts

This is a follow-up puzzle for Puzzle 1243, now with Predicted Contacts to help guide your folding! See the blog for information on using the contact map. You can see the predicted contacts for this protein by clicking the Contact Map button in the Main menu (Selection Interface) or in the Actions tab (Classic Interface). You will notice that different contacts are shown in different shades of green, with brighter green contacts indicating stronger predictions. Players will be able to load in manual saves from Puzzle 1243 and use them as a starting point here.

1245: 70 Residue Monomer Design: Residue Count Filter

In this design puzzle, the Residue Count filter incurs a penalty when a player inserts extra residues beyond the 70 residue limit. The filter is intended to give players the flexibility to temporarily add residues to a design-in-progress. See the puzzle comments for filter details. The Baker Lab will run folding predictions on your solutions for this puzzle, and those that perform well will be synthesized in the lab. Remember, you can use the Upload for Scientists button for up to 5 designs that you want us to look at, even if they are not the best-scoring solutions!

1244: Revisiting Puzzle 55: Scorpion Toxin

This is a throwback puzzle to the early days of Foldit. This scorpion toxin binds to voltage-gated ion channels in insects, resulting in full-body paralysis. The protein contains eight cysteine residues that oxidize to form four disulfide bonds. We are revisiting old Foldit puzzles so we can see how useful the recent additions to the game have been.

1243: Unsolved De-novo Freestyle 81

The structure of this protein is still unknown. Secondary structure predictions (from PSIPRED) are marked on the starting structure, and provide clues about where the protein might form helices and sheets!

1242: 85 Residue Monomer Design: Residue Count Filter

In this design puzzle, the Residue Count filter incurs a penalty when a player inserts extra residues beyond the 85 residue limit. The filter is intended to give players the flexibility to temporarily add residues to a design-in-progress. See the puzzle comments for filter details. The Baker Lab will run folding predictions on your solutions for this puzzle, and those that perform well will be synthesized in the lab. Remember, you can use the Upload for Scientists button for up to 5 designs that you want us to look at, even if they are not the best-scoring solutions!

1241: Revisiting Puzzle 54: Human Fyn

This is a throwback puzzle to the early days of Foldit. This kinase protein is part of a human signaling pathway that controls cell growth. We are revisiting old Foldit puzzles so we can see how useful the recent additions to the game have been.