Protein Chemistry

This class-tested textbook gives an overview of the structure and functions of proteins and explains how amino acids form a defined structural entity with specific properties. The authors also introduce modern methods for purification and separation of proteins as well as different techniques for analyzing their structural and functional properties. A separate part of the book is devoted to enzymes and kinetics of enzymatic reactions.

The second edition of Structure in Protein Chemistry showcases the latest developments and innovations in the field of protein structure analysis and prediction. The book begins by explaining how proteins are purified and describes methods for elucidating their sequences of amino acids and defining their posttranslational modifications. Comprehensive explanations of crystallography and of noncovalent forces-ionic interactions, hydrogen bonding, and the hydrophobic effect-act as a prelude to an exhaustive description of the atomic details of the structures of proteins. The resulting understanding of protein molecular structure forms the basis for discussions of the evolution of proteins, the symmetry of the oligomeric associations that produce them, and the chemical, mathematical, and physical basis of the techniques used to study their structures. The latter include image reconstruction, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, proton exchange, optical spectroscopy, electrophoresis, covalent cross-linking, chemical modification, immunochemistry, hydrodynamics, and the scattering of light, X-radiation, and neutrons. These procedures are applied to study the folding of polypeptides and the assembly of oligomers. Biological membranes and their proteins are also discussed. Structure in Protein Chemistry, Second Edition, bridges the gap between introductory biophysical chemistry courses and research literature. It serves as a comprehensive textbook for advanced undergraduates and graduate students in biochemistry, biophysics, and structural and molecular biology. Professionals engaged in chemical, biochemical, and molecular biological research will find it a useful reference.

In recent years, interest in proteins has surged. This resurgence has been driven by the expansion of the post-genomic era when structural genomics and proteomics require new techniques in protein chemistry and new applications of older techniques. Protein chemistry methods are used by nearly every discipline of biomedical research. Many techniques

This volume arose originally from the complaints of the editor's students, both undergraduate and postgraduate, that there was no modern book on protein fibers which told enough about protein science and chemical tech nologies related to fibers. By and large this is probably a reasonable cri de coeur. The undergraduate on a technological course, lacking information on the basic scientific techniques used to carry out the research on which his fiber technology is based, can find it difficult to obtain this information. The pure science undergraduate often lacks knowledge of the application of these techniques in protein fiber technology. The young graduates, com mencing research related to some aspect of protein fibers, are drawn from a wide range of scientific disciplines, having been trained as biochemists, chemists, physicists, technologists, and histologists, to name but a few. Generally these new research workers pass through a preliminary "lost" period in which they have to evaluate their background in relation to the wide and differing fields of research in protein fiber science to which they are now exposed. As time goes on they then either develop a wide knowledge covering science and technology or remain in a specific part of their original discipline, with a narrow knowledge of its application in the field of the research degree they are taking.

Food proteins are of great interest, not only because of their nutritional importance and their functionality in foods, but also for their detrimental effects. Although proteins from milk, meats (including fish and poultry), eggs, cereals, legumes, and oilseeds have been the traditional sources of protein in the human diet, potentially any proteins from a biological source could serve as a food protein. The primary role of protein in the diet is to provide the building materials for the synthesis of muscle and other tissues, and they play a critical role in many biological processes. They are also responsible for food texture, color, and flavor. Today, food proteins are extracted, modified, and incorporated into processed foods to impart specific functional properties. They can also have adverse effects in the diet: proteins, such as walnuts, pecans, almonds, and cashews, soybean, wheat, milk, egg, crustacean, and fish proteins can be powerful allergens for some people. Applied Food Protein Chemistry is an applied reference which reviews the properties of food proteins and provides in-depth information on important plant and animal proteins consumed around the world. The book is grouped into three sections: (1) overview of food proteins, (2) plant proteins, and (3) animal proteins. Each chapter discusses world production, distribution, utilization, physicochemical properties, and the functional properties of each protein, as well as its food applications. The authors for each of the chapters are carefully selected experts in the field. This book will be a valuable reference tool for those who work on food proteins. It will also be an important text on applied food protein chemistry for upper-level students and graduate students of food science programs.

This book examines the chemical methods used to study the mechanisms of enzymatically catalyzed reactions with an emphasis on the crystallographic molecular models of active sites. The book traces the development of enzymatic mechanisms from physical organic studies of nonenzymatic catalysis through detailed examination of the specific interactions between catalytic amino acids and intermediate analogues in crystallographic molecular models. The strategies of enzymatic catalysis, such as coenzymatic assistance, approximation, strain, the use of general acid-bases, the involvement of intermediates, and conformational control, are the central topics around which the book is organized.