AI Tools Design New Proteases That Cut Disease‑Related Proteins

Proteins are long chains of amino acids held together by peptide bonds, which are chemically stable and could last for centuries in water. In natural environments, organisms produce enzymes that can break these bonds, so most proteins do not survive long outside living things.

Proteases are the enzymes that cut peptide bonds. One common type uses a zinc atom to coordinate the bond being broken and a water molecule. The zinc ion attracts the bond and activates the water so it can attack and split the peptide bond.

In this study, researchers used AI‑based protein design tools to take the catalytic core of a zinc protease and replace the rest of the protein. This shortcut bypasses the long evolutionary process that normally creates many specialized proteases, allowing the new enzymes to be engineered for specific targets.

The scientists tested the engineered enzymes on proteins that are associated with neurological diseases and found that they successfully cut those target proteins.