Protein Folding

Protein Folding aims to collect the most important information in the field of protein folding and probes the main principles that govern formation of the three-dimensional structure of a protein from a nascent polypeptide chain, as well as how the functional properties appear. This text is organized into three sections and consists of 15 chapters. After an introductory chapter where the main problems of protein folding are considered at the cellular level in the context of protein biosynthesis, the discussion turns to the conformation of native globular proteins. Definitions and rules of nome ...

A solution to the protein folding problem has eluded researchers for more than 30 years. The stakes are high. Such a solution will make 40,000 more tertiary structures available for immediate study by translating the DNA sequence information in the sequence databases into three-dimensional protein structures. This translation will be indispensable for the analy sis of results from the Human Genome Project, de novo protein design, and many other areas of biotechnological research. Finally, an in-depth study of the rules of protein folding should provide vital clues to the protein fold ing process. The search for these rules is therefore an important objective for theoretical molecular biology. Both experimental and theoretical ap proaches have been used in the search for a solution, with many promising results but no general solution. In recent years, there has been an exponen tial increase in the power of computers. This has triggered an incredible outburst of theoretical approaches to solving the protein folding problem ranging from molecular dynamics-based studies of proteins in solution to the actual prediction of protein structures from first principles. This volume attempts to present a concise overview of these advances. Adrian Roitberg and Ron Elber describe the locally enhanced sam pling/simulated annealing conformational search algorithm (Chapter 1), which is potentially useful for the rapid conformational search of larger molecular systems.

First methods book which includes many detailed descriptions Absolutely needed and thus timely for the scientific community Comprises 15% more content and includes the mentioned special features

This snapshot volume is designed to provide a smooth entry into the field of protein folding. Presented in a concise manner, each section introduces key concepts while providing a brief overview of the relevant literature. Outlook subsections will pinpoint specific aspects related to emerging methodologies, concepts and trends.

Infrared spectroscopy is a new and innovative technology to study protein folding/misfolding events in the broad arsenal of techniques conventionally used in this field. The progress in understanding protein folding and misfolding is primarily due to the development of biophysical methods which permit to probe conformational changes with high kinetic and structural resolution. The most commonly used approaches rely on rapid mixing methods to initiate the folding event via a sudden change in solvent conditions. Traditionally, techniques such as fluorescence, circular dichroism or visible absorption are applied to probe the process. In contrast to these techniques, infrared spectroscopy came into play only very recently, and the progress made in this field up to date which now permits to probe folding events over the time scale from picoseconds to minutes has not yet been discussed in a book. The aim of this book is to provide an overview of the developments as seen by some of the main contributors to the field. The chapters are not intended to give exhaustive reviews of the literature but, instead to illustrate examples demonstrating the sort of information, which infrared techniques can provide and how this information can be extracted from the experimental data. By discussing the strengths and limitations of the infrared approaches for the investigation of folding and misfolding mechanisms this book helps the reader to evaluate whether a particular system is appropriate for studies by infrared spectroscopy and which specific advantages the techniques offer to solve specific problems.

Protein folding remains one of the most exclusive problems of modern biochemistry. Structure analysis has given access to the wealth of the molecular architecture of pro teins. As architecture needs static calculations, protein structure is always related to thermodynamic factors that govern folding and stability of a particular folded protein over the non-organized polypeptide chain. During the past decades a huge amount of thermodynamic data related to protein folding and stability has been accumulated. The data are certainly of importance in dechiffring the protein folding problem. At the same time, the data can guide the con struction of modified and newly synthesized proteins with properties optimized for particular application. The intention of this book is a generation of a data collection which makes the vast amount of present data accessible for multidisciplinary research where chemistry, phy sics, biology, and medicine are involved and also pharmaceutical and food research and technology. It took several years to compile all the data and the author wishes to thank everyone who provided data, ideas or even unpublished results. The author is, in particular, indebted to Prof. Wadso (Lund, Sweden) and IUPAC's Steering Committee on Bio physical Chemistry. Furthermore, support by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschafi (INK 16 AI-I) is acknowledged.

This volume provides comprehensive protocols on experimental and computational methods that are used to study probe protein folding reactions and mechanisms. Chapters divided into five parts detail protein engineering, protein chemistry, experimental approaches to investigate the thermodynamics and kinetics of protein folding transitions, probe protein folding at the single molecule, analysis and interpretation of computer simulations, procedures and tools for the prediction of protein folding properties. Written in the format of the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series, each chapter includes an introduction to the topic, lists necessary materials and reagents, includes tips on troubleshooting and known pitfalls, and step-by-step, readily reproducible protocols. Authoritative and cutting-edge, Protein Folding: Methods and Protocols aims to be a useful practical guide to researches to help further their study in this field.

Since the publication of the first edition of mechanisms of protein folding in 1994, significant advances in both the technical and conceptual understanding of protein folding. This new edition has been brought up to date in content, context, and authorship and will make the subject accessibleto a wide range of scientists. The emphasis on experimental approaches has benn maintained from the first edition but this time within the explicit context of simulations and energy surfaces. There is an introductory chapter explaining the 'new' model of protein folding, which takes into account theheterogeneity of the starting state. Advances in interpreting observed kinetic data and the development of technology to observe fast folding reactions and characterize intermediate structures have accompanied this new view and are covered in detail. The term 'molten globule'is often usedincorrectly but here the significance of the term is carefully described at different satges of folding. The concept of the transition state, including the complementary approaches of molecular dynamics and protein engineering, is also discussed in detail. In vitro studies provide the molecularbasis for the thermodynamic and kinetic energy minimization of the in vivo processes of protein folding and two of the potentially rate determining reactions are disulphide bond formation and proline isomerization. It has also become increasingly apparent that chaperone proteins play a vital role inprotein folding and other reactions of proteins involoving major conformational change and the molecular details of these processes are discussed in detail in chapter 14. The final chapter describes the centreal importance of protein folding and unfolding reactions in disease and gives claerdefinition of the term 'misfolding'. Studying protein folding in vivo is full of problems and to show how these problems can be overcome in practice, three case studies of three very different types of protein have been included: the small globular protein apomyoglobin; the fibrous protein collagen;and the membrane protein haemagglutinin.