New computer model shows how proteins are controlled "at a distance"

EPFL scientists have created a new computer model that can help better design of allosteric drugs, which control proteins 'at a distance'. Enzymes are large proteins that are involved in virtually every biological process, facilitating a multitude of biochemical reactions in our cells. Because of this, one of the biggest efforts in drug design today aims to control enzymes without interfering with their so-called active sites - the part of the enzyme where the biochemical reaction takes place. This 'at a distance' approach is called 'allosteric regulation', and predicting allosteric pathways for enzymes and other proteins has gathered considerable interest. Scientists from EPFL, with colleagues in the US and Brazil, have now developed a new mathematical tool that allows more efficient allosteric predictions. The work is published in PNAS . Allosteric drugs Allosteric regulation is a fundamental molecular mechanism that modulates numerous cell processes, fine-tuning them and making them more efficient.