Rational design of disordered proteins for systematic sequence-to-function investigation

Abstract

Despite lacking a stable three-dimensional structure, intrinsically disordered protein regions (IDRs) are ubiquitous across all kingdoms of life and play essential cellular roles. While rational design of folded proteins has seen substantial recent progress, our ability to design IDRs remains limited. Here, we present GOOSE, a comprehensive computational framework for the rational design of IDRs. GOOSEs versatility and throughput enable us to test thousands of IDR sequences, revealing distinct sequence-ensemble-function relationships. By using GOOSE to rapidly explore these relationships, we design IDRs that can alter their ensembles in response to cell volume changes, create scaffolds for the self-assembly of specific clients, and protect cells from desiccation. Taken together, this work highlights how sequence-function relationships are encoded in IDRs and provides a powerful tool for further exploration.