A Chemical Approach to Protein Design—Template-Assembled Synthetic Proteins (TASP)

Advances in methodology in both chemistry and molecular biology allow us to take a fresh look at protein science. Chemical synthesis of peptides and site-directed mutagenesis are now standard research tools, paving the way for the construction of new proteins with tailor-made structural and functional properties. The decisive hurdle on the way lies not in the synthesis of the molecules proper but rather in a better understanding of the complex folding pathways of polypeptide chains into spatially well-defined structures. Can the chemist use his synthetic tools to bypass the notorious “folding problem?” In this article, we present a new approach developed in our laboratory, which opens a chemical route to artificial proteins with predetermined three-dimensional structures, allowing a first step towards the synthesis of new proteins with functional properties.