AI Designs Protein-Cutting Enzymes

Seattle35 of 38 AI-designed enzymes showed protein-cutting activity.

Researchers say targeted cuts could eventually influence genetic diseases caused by malformed proteins.

David Baker’s University of Washington lab used RFdiffusion2 to build backbones and ProteinMPNN to fill in amino acids.

Designs started far less active than natural enzymes, and the best mutated version ran 30 times faster.

Proteins can trigger immune responses, and reaching targets inside cells would need gene delivery.

How each outlet framed it

Ars Technica: reports the enzyme redesign as a shortcut around billions of years of protease evolution, replacing a whole protein around a conserved catalytic core