A Correlation between Protein Function and Ligand Binding Profiles

Authors

Matthew D. Shortridge, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Michael Bokemper, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Jennifer C. Copeland, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Jaime L. Stark, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Robert Powers, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

2011

Citation

J Proteome Res. 2011 May 6; 10(5): 2538–2545. doi:10.1021/pr200015d.

Comments

© 2011 American Chemical Society

Abstract

We report that proteins with the same function bind the same set of small molecules from a standardized chemical library. This observation led to a quantifiable and rapidly adaptable method for protein functional analysis using experimentally-derived ligand binding profiles. Ligand binding is measured using a high-throughput NMR ligand affinity screen with a structurally diverse chemical library. The method was demonstrated using a set of 19 proteins with a range of functions. A statistically significant similarity in ligand binding profiles was only observed between the two functionally identical albumins and between the five functionally similar amylases. This new approach is independent of sequence, structure or evolutionary information, and therefore, extends our ability to analyze and functionally annotate novel genes.