Interaction between intrinsically disordered proteins and structured partners

On the line of maturing new understanding of the factors regulating the correct dynamics of intrinsically disordered proteins in solution, one of the group’s interest is studying the mechanisms at the base of IDP’s recognition by structured partners. The function of IDPs is mostly, if not exclusively, developed around their ability to bind other molecular components inside the cell. Nevertheless, their lack of structure poses an additional challenge to successful binding. By employing molecular dynamics and brownian dynamics simulations interfaced to experimental validations, we aim to identify the mechanisms of recognition and binding between IDPs and structured partners crucial to cell surviving. The ultimate goal of the project is to bridge the knowledge that we acquire at a single-molecule level to the function of interacting partners inside the cell.