Anderson &
Saltzman
Artist
Jeff Anderson
- Independent artist
- Salt Lake City
Scientist
Abigail Saltzman
-Undergraduate student
- Emory University
​
'Fluorescence of Evolution'
by Jeff Anderson
Watercolor
Artist's narrative
Fluorescence of Evolution is a piece based on the research by Abby Saltzman. The three main cells in the piece are a representation of the yeast cells that Abby works with. As one progresses from left to right, the binding to the FC region becomes stronger and the fluorescence glows brighter. This is a representation of the directed evolution that is occurring. The yeast cells have also been placed on an incline to mimic the intensity of the binding that is reflected in Abby’s actual data graph. Finally, the DNA strand that is moving through all stands as a symbol for the genetic changes that have occurred for these molecules that have made them evolve to bind tighter and glow brighter.
Research by Abby Saltzman
Abstract:
Many enzymes that deglycosylate proteins are unspecific in their targets; however, the Endo-s2 enzyme, found in pathogenic bacteria, is unusual due to its preference for cleaving glycans bound to the FC region of IgG antibodies. This specificity nods to likely structural interactions between the unique V-like shape of Endo-s2 and the FC regions of these antibodies. It is possible that a mutated FC sequence may provide a substrate with higher binding affinity to Endo-s2. A method for finding such a sequence is to create a large library of FC region mutants that can be sorted using a process called ‘directed evolution.’ This method uses fluorescent imagery to demonstrate the binding affinity of an enzyme to its substrate, and allows for the potential isolation of a more idealized mutant of a protein. To make the array of fc mutants, PCR must be performed with a special DNA polymerase able to insert mutations at random nucleotides in the fc sequence. These regions will be inserted into the digested vector which can then be transformed into E. coli. Once the DNA is purified it will be transferred into yeast where expression can occur. The yeast will display the library of mutants on the cell surface where they are free to bind with Endo-s2 and the directed evolution data can be collected.