Patent ID: 8592144

Claim:
A method for the preparation and isolation of a mutagenized protein with a beta-sheet structure and a new or improved binding activity towards a binding partner comprising: (a) selecting a gamma-crystallin protein; (b) selecting a desired binding partner for the protein; (c) mutagenizing a nucleic acid molecule by substitutions at nucleotides encoding amino acids on a surface of a starting protein located in at least two β-strands of at least one beta-sheet of a protein with beta-sheet structure, wherein the mutagenizing is site specific or random, and wherein an amino acid is mutagenized at a position corresponding to one or more of positions Lys3, Thr5, Tyr7, Cys16, Glu18, Ser20, Arg37 and Asp39 of the gamma-crystallin protein of SEQ ID NO: 22; (d) expressing the mutagenized nucleic acid molecule of step (c) in order to produce the mutagenized protein; (e) contacting the mutagenized protein with the binding partner of step (b); and (f) selecting and isolating a mutagenized protein with a new or improved binding activity towards the binding partner of step (b).