Activating an enzyme by an engineered coiled coil switch

We designed a de novo protein based on a circular permutant of RNaseT1, in which the enzymatic activity can be manipulated by engineered peptide binding. The circular permutant of RNaseT1 was obtained by tethering the original C- and N-termini with a GPAG linker and cleaving the molecule between Glu82 and Asn83. This mutant lacked enzymatic activity, due to the destabilization of entire protein structure. We previously reported the construction of ABC-type heterotrimeric coiled coil peptides, in which the A- and B-type peptides cannot form the folded trimeric structure without the C-type peptide. The introduction of the A- and B-type coiled coil peptides to the C- and N-termini of the circular permutant of RNaseT1, respectively, and the subsequent addition of the C-type coiled coil peptide enabled the RNaseT1 domain to refold properly, thus, restoring the enzymatic activity. The formation of the trimeric coiled coil structure should bring the cleaved sites of RNaseT1 close enough to refold the RNaseT1 domain spontaneously.