Foldit Puzzles

836: Revisiting Puzzle 94: Mouse

EARLY EXPIRATION NOTICE:

835: SOD1 Hotspot

Mutations in the gene encoding the SOD1 protein cause a subset of cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease. There is some evidence that the two SOD1 subunits in the dimer separate as part of the aggregation process, so a molecule that is able to "glue" the dimer together could help to slow or halt the molecular events that lead to the disease. As a starting point for designing such a "glue", we'd like you to find good places at the interface between the SOD1 subunits to place a small, three-residue fragment. In designing the sequence of this fragment, keep in mind that hydrophobic interactions (interactions with orange residues) are much more likely to give high affinity and specificity than polar interactions (interactions with blue residues), so we recommend focusing on placing hydrophobic side-chains in the cleft between the subunits. Good luck!

831: Abeta Loop Closure B

This puzzle builds on a piecewise design solution from Puzzle 808. Build loops to close the cutpoints between secondary structure elements to create an Abeta-binding protein! The two starting structures were derived from a single solution by gitwut and martinzblavy, but have different loop arrangements. Reset the puzzle to cycle through both starting structures. See the puzzle comments for more details. This puzzle will be open for two weeks.

834: Revisiting Puzzle 93: Spider Toxin

This is a throwback puzzle to the early days of Foldit. This protein is from a neurotoxin found in the funnel spider. We are revisiting old Foldit puzzles so we can see how useful the recent additions to the game have been. Players will NOT be able to load in any previous solutions for these puzzles.

833: De-novo Freestyle 32: Round 2

This is Round 2 for Puzzle 830. You will be able to load in your manual saves from 830 and use them as a starting point here. This puzzle has been opened up to allow for sharing and the use of all scripts. NOTE: If you did not manually save a solution in puzzle 830, you can go back to 830, manually save it, and the solution should appear in your manual saves for this puzzle.

832: Revisiting Puzzle 92: Bacteria

This is a throwback puzzle to the early days of Foldit. This protein comes from the bacteria Escherichia coli. We are revisiting old Foldit puzzles so we can see how useful the recent additions to the game have been. Players will NOT be able to load in any previous solutions for these puzzles.

830: De-novo Freestyle 32: Hand-folding Round

We are giving you another currently unsolved protein as an extended chain. This round only GUI scripts are allowed and sharing has been disabled. After this puzzle expires, the puzzle will be re-posted and LUA scripts and sharing will be allowed. You'll be able to load in your solutions from this puzzle and use scripting and sharing. The secondary structure predictions are provided on the starting model, with more details posted in the puzzle comments.

829: Revisiting Puzzle 91: Viral Protein

This is a throwback puzzle to the early days of Foldit. This protein is used by viruses to penetrate the membranes of cells. We are revisiting old Foldit puzzles so we can see how useful the recent additions to the game have been. Players will NOT be able to load in any previous solutions for these puzzles.

828: Abeta Loop Closure A

This puzzle builds on a piecewise design solution from Puzzle 808. Build loops to close the cutpoints between secondary structure elements to create an Abeta-binding protein! The two starting structures were derived from a single solution by Grom and Rita_Gat, but have different loop arrangements. Reset the puzzle to cycle through both starting structures. See the puzzle comments for more details. This puzzle will be open for two weeks.

826: Unsolved Electron Density: Round 3

We are reposting Unsolved Electron Density Puzzle 816, but this time with an improved electron density cloud. You will be able to load in your manual saves from 813/816 and use them as a starting point here. NOTE: If you did not manually save a solution in puzzle 813 or 816, you can go back and manually save it, and the solution should appear in your manual saves for this puzzle.