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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1986 Jun;83(11):3806–3810. doi: 10.1073/pnas.83.11.3806

Toward computer-aided site-directed mutagenesis of enzymes.

A Warshel, F Sussman
PMCID: PMC323612  PMID: 3520555

Abstract

A preliminary attempt to simulate the observed effect of a site-directed mutagenesis of rat trypsin gives encouraging results. The calculations reproduce in a semiquantitative way the observed change in the activation barrier of the rate-limiting step of amide hydrolysis. This result, which did not require any adjustable parameters, indicates that our method may provide a reliable basis for computer-aided enzyme design. In addition to the potentially practical value of the calculations, they provide important mechanistic information--that is, the change in the catalytic effect in trypsin appears to be almost exclusively due to the change in the electrostatic stabilization of the ionic configurations. This supports the view that electrostatic effects are the major factor in enzyme catalysis.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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