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Hauptverfasser: Wang, Xiangwen, Jin, Gaojie, Huang, Xiaowei, Mu, Ronghui
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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Online-Zugang:https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.18816
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author Wang, Xiangwen
Jin, Gaojie
Huang, Xiaowei
Mu, Ronghui
author_facet Wang, Xiangwen
Jin, Gaojie
Huang, Xiaowei
Mu, Ronghui
contents Designing mutations to optimize protein thermostability remains challenging due to the complex relationship between sequence variations, structural dynamics, and thermostability, often assessed by δδG (the change in free energy of unfolding). Existing methods rely on experimental random mutagenesis or prediction models tested with pre-defined datasets, using sequence-based heuristics and treating enzyme design as a one-step process without iterative refinement, which limits design space exploration and restricts discoveries beyond known variations. We present ThermoRL, a framework based on reinforcement learning (RL) that leverages graph neural networks (GNN) to design mutations with enhanced thermostability. It combines a pre-trained GNN-based encoder with a hierarchical Q-learning network and employs a surrogate model for reward feedback, guiding the RL agent on where (the position) and which (mutant amino acid) to apply for enhanced thermostability. Experimental results show that ThermoRL achieves higher or comparable rewards than baselines while maintaining computational efficiency. It filters out destabilizing mutations and identifies stabilizing mutations aligned with experimental data. Moreover, ThermoRL accurately detects key mutation sites in unseen proteins, highlighting its strong generalizability. This RL-guided approach powered by GNN embeddings offers a robust alternative to traditional protein mutation design.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_18816
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle ThermoRL:Structure-Aware Reinforcement Learning for Protein Mutation Design to Enhance Thermostability
Wang, Xiangwen
Jin, Gaojie
Huang, Xiaowei
Mu, Ronghui
Computational Engineering, Finance, and Science
Designing mutations to optimize protein thermostability remains challenging due to the complex relationship between sequence variations, structural dynamics, and thermostability, often assessed by δδG (the change in free energy of unfolding). Existing methods rely on experimental random mutagenesis or prediction models tested with pre-defined datasets, using sequence-based heuristics and treating enzyme design as a one-step process without iterative refinement, which limits design space exploration and restricts discoveries beyond known variations. We present ThermoRL, a framework based on reinforcement learning (RL) that leverages graph neural networks (GNN) to design mutations with enhanced thermostability. It combines a pre-trained GNN-based encoder with a hierarchical Q-learning network and employs a surrogate model for reward feedback, guiding the RL agent on where (the position) and which (mutant amino acid) to apply for enhanced thermostability. Experimental results show that ThermoRL achieves higher or comparable rewards than baselines while maintaining computational efficiency. It filters out destabilizing mutations and identifies stabilizing mutations aligned with experimental data. Moreover, ThermoRL accurately detects key mutation sites in unseen proteins, highlighting its strong generalizability. This RL-guided approach powered by GNN embeddings offers a robust alternative to traditional protein mutation design.
title ThermoRL:Structure-Aware Reinforcement Learning for Protein Mutation Design to Enhance Thermostability
topic Computational Engineering, Finance, and Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.18816