Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33107822›Full record

ArticleeLife2020

Uncovering the basis of protein-protein interaction specificity with a combinatorially complete library.

Thuy-Lan V Lite, Robert A Grant, Isabel Nocedal, Megan L Littlehale, Monica S Guo, Michael T Laub

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in eLife, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 49 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
49citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

49 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Efficient, Few-shot Directed Evolution with Energy Rank Alignment.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026
    Article
  5. Article
  6. Epistatic drift in protein evolution.Current opinion in genetics & development · 2025
    Review
  7. Article
  8. Inference and visualization of complex genotype-phenotype maps withbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025
    Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Symmetry facilitated the evolution of heterospecificity and high-order stoichiometry in vertebrate hemoglobin.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
  13. Review
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Thuy-Lan V LiteDepartment of Biology Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States.ORCID 0000-0003-2743-4231
Robert A GrantDepartment of Biology Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States.
Isabel NocedalDepartment of Biology Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States.ORCID 0000-0002-4706-1113
Megan L LittlehaleDepartment of Biology Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States.
Monica S GuoDepartment of Biology Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States.
Michael T LaubDepartment of Biology Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States.ORCID 0000-0002-8288-7607

Funding

Medical Scientist Training ProgramT32GM007753 · NIGMS · HARVARD UNIVERSITY (MEDICAL SCHOOL) · PI WALENSKY, LOREN DAVID · 1985 to 2021
$50.0M
PRE-DOCTORAL TRAINING IN THE BIOLOGICAL SCIENCEST32GM007287 · NIGMS · MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY · PI BELL, STEPHEN P., KEATING, AMY E · 1985 to 2019
$40.8M
User Training and OutreachP30GM124165 · NIGMS · CORNELL UNIVERSITY · PI MALCOLM S. CAPEL · 2018 to 2026
$34.2M
Pixel Array Detector for Macromolecular CrystallographyS10OD021527 · OD · CORNELL UNIVERSITY · PI EALICK, STEVEN E · 2016 to 2016
$2.0M
Pixel Array Detector for X-ray CrystallographyS10RR029205 · NCRR · CORNELL UNIVERSITY · PI EALICK, STEVEN E · 2010 to 2010
$1.8M
NCRR NIH HHS S10 RR029205NIGMS NIH HHS P30 GM124165NIGMS NIH HHS T32 GM007287NIGMS NIH HHS T32 GM007753NIH HHS S10 OD021527
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Protein-protein interaction specificity is often encoded at the primary sequence level. However, the contributions of individual residues to specificity are usually poorly understood and often obscured by mutational robustness, sequence degeneracy, and epistasis. Using bacterial toxin-antitoxin systems as a model, we screened a combinatorially complete library of antitoxin variants at three key positions against two toxins. This library enabled us to measure the effect of individual substitutions on specificity in hundreds of genetic backgrounds. These distributions allow inferences about the general nature of interface residues in promoting specificity. We find that positive and negative contributions to specificity are neither inherently coupled nor mutually exclusive. Further, a wild-type antitoxin appears optimized for specificity as no substitutions improve discrimination between cognate and non-cognate partners. By comparing crystal structures of paralogous complexes, we provide a rationale for our observations. Collectively, this work provides a generalizable approach to understanding the logic of molecular recognition.

Indexed as

AntitoxinsBacterial ProteinsBacterial ToxinsEvolution, MolecularGene LibraryMesorhizobiumProtein BindingAntitoxinsBacterial ProteinsBacterial Toxinsbiochemistrychemical biologydeep mutational scanningmolecular biophysicsnoneprotein-protein interactionspecificitystructural biology

Identifiers

PMID33107822
PMCPMC7669267

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.