Evolutionary Insights Into Protein Structure

Evolutionary Insights Into Protein Structure PDF Author: Jeffrey M. Koshi
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 192

Get Book Here

Book Description

Evolutionary Insights Into Protein Structure

Evolutionary Insights Into Protein Structure PDF Author: Jeffrey M. Koshi
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 192

Get Book Here

Book Description


Evolutionary Insights Into Protein Structure, Stability, and Functionality

Evolutionary Insights Into Protein Structure, Stability, and Functionality PDF Author: Paul Douglas Williams
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 222

Get Book Here

Book Description


Hemoglobin

Hemoglobin PDF Author: Jay F. Storz
Publisher:
ISBN: 0198810687
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 258

Get Book Here

Book Description
Provides a synthesis of our current understanding of hemoglobin (Hb) function and evolution, and illustrates how research on this protein has provided more general insights into mechanisms of protein evolution and biochemical adaptation.

Insights Into Protein Function from Evolutionary and Conformational Dynamics

Insights Into Protein Function from Evolutionary and Conformational Dynamics PDF Author: Philip W. Bransford
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 145

Get Book Here

Book Description
The volume of protein structure data has grown rapidly over the past 30 years, leaving a wake of facts that still require explanation. We endeavored to answer a few open questions on the structure-function relationship of intriguing mechanochemical protein systems. To this end this thesis work contains five studies that offer novel insights into molecular biomechanical systems that may guide future basic research or applications development. The first study concerns the biophysics of cadherin-mediated cell sorting observed in developing solid tissue. We investigated the evolutionary dynamics of the cadherin superfamily of cell-cell adhesion proteins to infer a structural basis for their paradoxical mixture of pairwise binding specificity and promiscuity. Our analysis predicts a small set of specificity-determining residues located within the protomer-protomer binding interface. The putative specificity-determinants form a design space with potential for engineering novel cell-cell adhesive interactions. The second study addresses the open question of how to automatically identify regions within a protein that engage in allosteric communication. To identify allostery we developed and tested two computational tools that operate on protein conformational dynamics data. These tools are useful for generating testable hypotheses about proteins with multiple functional sites for the design of non-competitive protein inhibitors. The third study asks, "What is the consequence of allosteric cooperation between the tandem binding sites in a class of proteins that bundle filamentous actin (F-actin)?" Through simulation we demonstrate that cooperative F-actin bundling tends to strengthen bundles by driving the formation of cross-links between neighboring filaments while depleting F-actin binding sites that are occupied but not cross-linked. We hence propose that allostery may be a natural feature of ABPs with tandem F-actin binding sites if nature indeed selects for sturdy F-actin bundles. The final two studies examine the impact of two structural perturbations to Factin on its mechanics. Using structure-based computer modeling we develop a simple explanation for the mechanism by which the structure of actin's polymorphic subdomain 2 mediates 4-fold changes in F-actin's flexibility. We further demonstrate that two calponin homology domains stabilize F-actin by binding in a configuration that tends to relax the stress concentration at actin-actin interfaces.

Sequence — Evolution — Function

Sequence — Evolution — Function PDF Author: Eugene V. Koonin
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1475737831
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 482

Get Book Here

Book Description
Sequence - Evolution - Function is an introduction to the computational approaches that play a critical role in the emerging new branch of biology known as functional genomics. The book provides the reader with an understanding of the principles and approaches of functional genomics and of the potential and limitations of computational and experimental approaches to genome analysis. Sequence - Evolution - Function should help bridge the "digital divide" between biologists and computer scientists, allowing biologists to better grasp the peculiarities of the emerging field of Genome Biology and to learn how to benefit from the enormous amount of sequence data available in the public databases. The book is non-technical with respect to the computer methods for genome analysis and discusses these methods from the user's viewpoint, without addressing mathematical and algorithmic details. Prior practical familiarity with the basic methods for sequence analysis is a major advantage, but a reader without such experience will be able to use the book as an introduction to these methods. This book is perfect for introductory level courses in computational methods for comparative and functional genomics.

On protein structure, function and modularity from an evolutionary perspective

On protein structure, function and modularity from an evolutionary perspective PDF Author: Robert Pilstål
Publisher: Linköping University Electronic Press
ISBN: 9176853470
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 206

Get Book Here

Book Description
We are compounded entities, given life by a complex molecular machinery. When studying these molecules we have to make sense of a diverse set of dynamical nanostructures with wast and intricate patterns of interactions. Protein polymers is one of the major groups of building blocks of such nanostructures which fold up into more or less distinct three dimensional structures. Due to their shape, dynamics and chemical properties proteins are able to perform a plethora of specific functions essential to all known cellular lifeforms. The connection between protein sequence, translated into protein structure and in the continuation into protein function is well accepted but poorly understood. Malfunction in the process of protein folding is known to be implicated in natural aging, cancer and degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's. Protein folds are described hierarchically by structural ontologies such as SCOP, CATH and Pfam all which has yet to succeed in deciphering the natural language of protein function. These paradigmatic views centered on protein structure fail to describe more mutable entities, such as intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) which lack a clear defined structure. As of 2012, about two thirds of cancer patients was predicted to survive past 5 years of diagnosis. Despite this, about a third do not survive and numerous of successfully treated patients suffer from secondary conditions due to chemotherapy, surgery and the like. In order to handle cancer more efficiently we have to better understand the underlying molecular mechanisms. Elusive to standard methods of investigation, IDPs have a central role in pathology; dysfunction in IDPs are key factors in cellular system failures such as cancer, as many IDPs are hub regulators for major cell functions. These IDPs carry short conserved functional boxes, that are not described by known ontologies, which suggests the existence of a smaller entity. In an investigation of a pair of such boxes of c-MYC, a plausible structural model of its interacting with Pin1 emerged, but such a model still leaves the observer with a puzzle of understanding the actual function of that interaction. If the protein is represented as a graph and modeled as the interaction patterns instead of as a structural entity, another picture emerges. As a graph, there is a parable from that of the boxes of IDPs, to that of sectors of allosterically connected residues and the theory of foldons and folding units. Such a description is also useful in deciphering the implications of specific mutations. In order to render a functional description feasible for both structured and disordered proteins, there is a need of a model separate from form and structure. Realized as protein primes, patterns of interaction, which has a specific function that can be defined as prime interactions and context. With function defined as interactions, it might be possible that the discussion of proteins and their mechanisms is thereby simplified to the point rendering protein structural determination merely supplementary to understanding protein function. Människan byggs upp av celler, de i sin tur består av än mindre beståndsdelar; livets molekyler. Dessa fungerar som mekaniska byggstenar, likt maskiner och robotar som sliter vid fabrikens band; envar utförandes en absolut nödvändig funktion för cellens, och hela kroppens, fortsatta överlevnad. De av livets molekyler som beskrivs centralt i den här avhandling är proteiner, vilka i sin tur består utav en lång kedja, med olika typer av länkar, som likt garn lindar upp sig i ett nystan av en (mer eller mindre...) bestämd struktur som avgör dess roll och funktion i cellen. Intrinsiellt oordnade proteiner (IDP) går emot denna enkla åskådning; de är proteiner som saknar struktur och beter sig mer likt spaghetti i vatten än en maskin. IDP är ändå funktionella och bär på centrala roller i cellens maskineri; exempel är oncoproteinet c-Myc som agerar "gaspedal" för cellen - fel i c-Myc's funktion leder till att cellerna löper amok, delar sig hejdlöst och vi får cancer. Man har upptäckt att c-Myc har en ombytlig struktur vi inte kan se; studier av punktvisa förändringar, mutationer, i kedjan av byggstenar hos c-Myc visar att många länkar har viktiga roller i funktionen. Detta ger oss bättre förståelse om cancer men samtidigt är laboratoriearbetet både komplicerat och dyrt; här kan evolutionen vägleda oss och avslöja hemligheterna snabbare. Molekylär evolution studeras genom att beräkna variation i proteinkedjan mellan besläktade arter som finns lagrade i databaser; detta visar snabbt, via nätverksanalys och grafteori, vilka delar av proteinet som är centrala och kopplade till varandra av nödvändighet för artens fortlevnad. På så vis hjälper evolutionen oss att förstå proteinfunktioner via modeller baserade på proteinernas interaktioner snarare än deras struktur. Samma modeller kan nyttjas för att förstå dynamiska förlopp och skillnader mellan normala och patologiska varianter av proteiner; mutationer kan uppstå i vår arvsmassa som kan leda till sjukdom. Genom analys av proteinernas kopplingsnätverk i grafmodellerna kan man bättre förutsäga vilka mutationer som är farligare än andra. Dessutom har det visat sig att en sådan representation kan ge bättre förståelse för den normala funktionen hos ett protein än vad en proteinstruktur kan. Här introduceras även konceptet proteinprimärer, vilket är en abstrakt representation av proteiner centrerad på deras interaktiva mönster, snarare än på partikulär form och struktur. Det är en förhoppning att en sådan representation skall förenkla diskussionen anbelangande proteinfunktion så till den grad att strukturbestämmelse av proteiner, som är en mycket kostsam och tidskrävande process, till viss mån kan anses vara sekundär i betydelse jämfört med funktionellt modellerande baserat på evolutionära data extraherade ur våra sekvensdatabaser.

Molecular Biology of The Cell

Molecular Biology of The Cell PDF Author: Bruce Alberts
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780815332183
Category : Cytology
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description


Atlas of Protein Sequence and Structure

Atlas of Protein Sequence and Structure PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Amino acid sequence
Languages : en
Pages : 132

Get Book Here

Book Description


Protein Families

Protein Families PDF Author: Christine A. Orengo
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0470624221
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 566

Get Book Here

Book Description
New insights into the evolution and nature of proteins Exploring several distinct approaches, this book describes the methods for comparing protein sequences and protein structures in order to identify homologous relationships and classify proteins and protein domains into evolutionary families. Readers will discover the common features as well as the key philosophical differences underlying the major protein classification systems, including Pfam, Panther, SCOP, and CATH. Moreover, they'll discover how these systems can be used to understand the evolution of protein families as well as understand and predict the degree to which structural and functional information are shared between relatives in a protein family. Edited and authored by leading international experts, Protein Families offers new insights into protein families that are important to medical research as well as protein families that help us understand biological systems and key biological processes such as cell signaling and the immune response. The book is divided into three sections: Section I: Concepts Underlying Protein Family Classification reviews the major strategies for identifying homologous proteins and classifying them into families. Section II: In-Depth Reviews of Protein Families focuses on some fascinating super protein families for which we have substantial amounts of sequence, structural and functional data, making it possible to trace the emergence of functionally diverse relatives. Section III: Review of Protein Families in Important Biological Systems examines protein families associated with a particular biological theme, such as the cytoskeleton. All chapters are extensively illustrated, including depictions of evolutionary relationships. References at the end of each chapter guide readers to original research papers and reviews in the field. Covering protein family classification systems alongside detailed descriptions of select protein families, this book offers biochemists, molecular biologists, protein scientists, structural biologists, and bioinformaticians new insight into the evolution and nature of proteins.

Introduction to Protein Structure Prediction

Introduction to Protein Structure Prediction PDF Author: Huzefa Rangwala
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 111809946X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 611

Get Book Here

Book Description
A look at the methods and algorithms used to predict protein structure A thorough knowledge of the function and structure of proteins is critical for the advancement of biology and the life sciences as well as the development of better drugs, higher-yield crops, and even synthetic bio-fuels. To that end, this reference sheds light on the methods used for protein structure prediction and reveals the key applications of modeled structures. This indispensable book covers the applications of modeled protein structures and unravels the relationship between pure sequence information and three-dimensional structure, which continues to be one of the greatest challenges in molecular biology. With this resource, readers will find an all-encompassing examination of the problems, methods, tools, servers, databases, and applications of protein structure prediction and they will acquire unique insight into the future applications of the modeled protein structures. The book begins with a thorough introduction to the protein structure prediction problem and is divided into four themes: a background on structure prediction, the prediction of structural elements, tertiary structure prediction, and functional insights. Within those four sections, the following topics are covered: Databases and resources that are commonly used for protein structure prediction The structure prediction flagship assessment (CASP) and the protein structure initiative (PSI) Definitions of recurring substructures and the computational approaches used for solving sequence problems Difficulties with contact map prediction and how sophisticated machine learning methods can solve those problems Structure prediction methods that rely on homology modeling, threading, and fragment assembly Hybrid methods that achieve high-resolution protein structures Parts of the protein structure that may be conserved and used to interact with other biomolecules How the loop prediction problem can be used for refinement of the modeled structures The computational model that detects the differences between protein structure and its modeled mutant Whether working in the field of bioinformatics or molecular biology research or taking courses in protein modeling, readers will find the content in this book invaluable.