Short tandem repeats (STRs) are enriched in eukaryotic cis-regulatory elements and alter
gene expression, yet how they regulate transcription remains unknown. We found that STRs …

Biomolecular assembly is a key driving force in nearly all life processes, providing structure,
information storage, and communication within cells and at the whole organism level. These …

Highlights•Folding stability is an important factor for evolution and provides a negative
selection pressure.•Evolution re-shuffles flexibilities to fine-tune function, thereby modulating …

Consensus sequence design offers a promising strategy for designing proteins of high
stability while retaining biological activity since it draws upon an evolutionary history in …

Understanding how proteins discriminate between preferred and non-preferred ligands
('selectivity') is essential for predicting biological function and a central goal of protein …

Although homologous protein sequences are expected to adopt similar structures, some
amino acid substitutions can interconvert α-helices and β-sheets. Such fold switching may …

Solvation is critical for protein structural dynamics. Spectroscopic studies have indicated
relationships between protein and solvent dynamics, and rates of gas binding to heme …

Amino acid substitutions at nonconserved protein positions can have noncanonical and
“long-distance” outcomes on protein function. Such outcomes might arise from changes in …

In prokaryotes, the construction of synthetic, multi-input promoters is constrained by the
number of transcription factors that can simultaneously regulate a single promoter. This …

Mutational activation of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in human cancers involves
both point mutations and complex mutations (insertions and deletions). In particular, short in …