A Model for Engineering of Proteins in terms of their Fluorescence

The analysis of the structure-function relationships in proteins at the molecular level is one of the major tasks of protein chemistry and structural biology. Prediction of the effect of a single point mutation on the structure and function of proteins is also an important field of research in protein engineering and drug design aimed at the development of proteins with required functionality. Specific properties of a protein cannot be fully understood without taking into consideration the dipole-dipole interactions between its individual side chains.
In our approach we develop a theoretical model which allows calculating the dipole-dipole molecular interactions between individual side chains of a protein to elucidate their role in the structure and function. It is envisaged that this model will contribute to protein engineering from its fluorescent properties. We use Azurin to test the predictive value of our model.