Finding homes for orphan enzymes

The rate at which new genes are being sequenced greatly exceeds our ability to correctly annotate the functional properties of the corresponding proteins. Annotations based primarily on sequence identity to experimentally characterized proteins are often misleading because closely related sequences may have different functions, while highly divergent sequences may have identical functions. Our understanding of the principles that dictate the catalytic properties of enzymes, based on protein sequence alone, is often insufficient to correctly annotate proteins of unknown function. To address these problems, we are working to develop a comprehensive strategy for the functional annotation of newly sequenced genes using a combination of structural biology, bioinformatics, computational biology, and molecular enzymology. The power of this multidisciplinary approach for discovering new reactions catalyzed by uncharacterized enzymes has been tested using the amidohydrolase superfamily as a model system.