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A comment on Chemists tie a knot using only 54 atoms. Parent comment

Re:Chemists tie a knot using only 54 atoms by flyer_go on Thursday January 25, 2024 @02:58PM (#39134353)
What would be the benefit of this?
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Re:Chemists tie a knot using only 54 atoms by gilleain on Thursday January 25, 2024 @03:06PM (#39134476)
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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Re:Chemists tie a knot using only 54 atoms by dekhn on Thursday January 25, 2024 @03:34PM (#39134854)
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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Re:Chemists tie a knot using only 54 atoms by iouwhldkfjgklj on Thursday January 25, 2024 @03:00PM (#39134389)
It's interesting. That's the benefit.
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Re:Chemists tie a knot using only 54 atoms by dekhn on Thursday January 25, 2024 @03:34PM (#39134869)
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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Re:Chemists tie a knot using only 54 atoms by photonthug on Thursday January 25, 2024 @10:41PM (#39138684)
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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