Ngl, it's amazing to me that pretty much everyone is saying solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPS) when the ring-opening polymerization of N-carboxyanhydrides (NCAs) is a thing and, imho, far superior to the cumbersome, albeit Nobel Prize winning SPS method (shout-out Bruce Merrifield, absolute unit, made the first synthetic insulin using SPS). But NCA polymerization allows you to get polypeptides of several hundred-to-several thousand amino acids long so... In short, yes we can. And it's going to get even better in the near future.
But that actually was not a good answer in the end. We'll never be able to achieve functional proteins through synthetic methods. Insulin sold today is made via pig liver cell lines and it's because nature does it best. Another commenter touched on in vivo post-modification (glycosylation, acetylation, etc.) and that blue-print is basically mother nature's best kept secret and it likely will always remain so.
Excellent thread though, thanks for a thought provoking question.
PlusAthlete7351 t1_irci3am wrote
Reply to is it possible to synthesize proteins chemically? by yeeturking
Ngl, it's amazing to me that pretty much everyone is saying solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPS) when the ring-opening polymerization of N-carboxyanhydrides (NCAs) is a thing and, imho, far superior to the cumbersome, albeit Nobel Prize winning SPS method (shout-out Bruce Merrifield, absolute unit, made the first synthetic insulin using SPS). But NCA polymerization allows you to get polypeptides of several hundred-to-several thousand amino acids long so... In short, yes we can. And it's going to get even better in the near future.
But that actually was not a good answer in the end. We'll never be able to achieve functional proteins through synthetic methods. Insulin sold today is made via pig liver cell lines and it's because nature does it best. Another commenter touched on in vivo post-modification (glycosylation, acetylation, etc.) and that blue-print is basically mother nature's best kept secret and it likely will always remain so.
Excellent thread though, thanks for a thought provoking question.