Contest Info

Name: Frizzled Design Contest

Type: Template

Owner: ingoneato

Start Date: 11/30/14

End Date: 12/06/14

Puzzle: Frizzled Design Puzzle Contest

Description:
Wnt is a protein that is crucial to the embryonic development of all animals. An expanded understanding of Wnt will likely shed light on topics ranging from cancer and stem cell biology to tissue regeneration.
The presence of a fatty acid at one of the binding sites of Wnt to its target protein Frizzled (Fz) has delayed attempts to obtain this particular protein structure.
This puzzle includes a 122 residue chain (Fz) with a 12 residue helix positioned over the groove that would normally hold Wnt’s fatty acid. The side chains in this groove on Fz have been unfrozen. The fatty acid and its groove on Fz are both hydrophobic, which allows for binding in nature. With this puzzle, we are aiming to replace the fatty acid with hydrophobic side chains sticking down from the small helix.
We believe that it is important to preserve the helical nature of the 12 residue chain, because we will graft that stable structure onto a larger protein to facilitate binding tests in the near future.

Registered Contestants

User	Score
biol1300_julia	9502
ascaffa	9500
biol1300_nathan	9496
biol1300_Justin	9496
biol1300_abby	9495
biol1300_jenna	9491
biol1300_Steve	9486
biol1300_charlene	9477
biol1300_ethan	9471
nfawzi	9445
biol1300_hawa	9440
ingoneato	9395
biol1300_susie	0