Protein Structure By Distance Analysis

Written by outstanding scientists in physics and molecular biology, this book addresses the most recent advances in the analysis of the protein folding processes and protein structure determination. Emphasis is also placed on modelling and presentation of experimental results of structural membrane bound proteins. Many color plates help to illustrate structural aspects covered including: Defining folds of protein domains Structure determination from sequence Distance geometry Lattice theories Membrane proteins Protein-Ligand interaction Topological considerations Docking onto receptors All analysis is presented with proven theory and experimentation. Protein Folds: A Distance-Based Approach is an excellent text/reference for biotechnologists and biochemists as well as graduate students studying in the research sciences.

Protein research is a frontier field in science. Proteins are widely distributed in plants and animals and are the principal constituents of the protoplasm of all cells, and consist essentially of combinations of a-amino acids in peptide linkages. Twenty different amino acids are commonly found in proteins, and serve as enzymes, structural elements, hormones, immunoglobulins, etc., and are involved throughout the body, and in photosynthesis. This book gathers new leading-edge research from throughout the world in this exciting and exploding field of research.

This text offers in-depth perspectives on every aspect of protein structure identification, assessment, characterization, and utilization, for a clear understanding of the diversity of protein shapes, variations in protein function, and structure-based drug design. The authors cover numerous high-throughput technologies as well as computational methods to study protein structures and residues. A valuable reference, this book reflects current trends in the effort to solve new structures arising from genome initiatives, details methods to detect and identify errors in the prediction of protein structural models, and outlines challenges in the conversion of routine processes into high-throughput platforms.

The number of protein sequences grows each year, yet the number of structures deposited in the Protein Data Bank remains relatively small. The importance of protein structure prediction cannot be overemphasized, and this volume is a timely addition to the literature in this field. Protein Structure Prediction: Methods and Protocols is a departure from the normal Methods in Molecular Biology series format. By its very nature, protein structure prediction demands that there be a greater mix of theoretical and practical aspects than is normally seen in this series. This book is aimed at both the novice and the experienced researcher who wish for detailed inf- mation in the field of protein structure prediction; a major intention here is to include important information that is needed in the day-to-day work of a research scientist, important information that is not always decipherable in scientific literature. Protein Structure Prediction: Methods and Protocols covers the topic of protein structure prediction in an eclectic fashion, detailing aspects of pred- tion that range from sequence analysis (a starting point for many algorithms) to secondary and tertiary methods, on into the prediction of docked complexes (an essential point in order to fully understand biological function). As this volume progresses, the authors contribute their expert knowledge of protein structure prediction to many disciplines, such as the identification of motifs and domains, the comparative modeling of proteins, and ab initio approaches to protein loop, side chain, and protein prediction.

The papers collected in this volume reproduce contributions by leading sch- arstoaninternationalschoolandworkshopwhichwasorganizedandheldwith thegoaloftakinga snapshotofadiscipline undertumultuous growth. Indeed, the area of protein folding, docking and alignment is developing in response to needs for a mix of heterogeneous expertise spanning biology, chemistry, mathematics, computer science, and statistics, among others. Some of the problems encountered in this area are not only important for the scienti?c challenges they pose, but also for the opportunities they disclose intermsofmedicalandindustrialexploitation. Atypicalexampleiso?eredby protein-drug interaction (docking), a problem posing daunting computational problems at the crossroads of geometry, physics and chemistry, and, at the same time, a problem with unimaginable implications for the pharmacopoeia of the future. The schoolfocused on problems posed by the study of the mechanisms - hind protein folding, and explored di?erent ways of attacking these problems under objective evaluations of the methods. Together with a relatively small core of consolidated knowledge and tools, important re?ections were brought to this e?ort by studies in a multitude of directions and approaches. It is obviously impossible to predict which, if any, among these techniques will prove completely successful, but it is precisely the implicit dialectic among them that best conveys the current ?avor of the ?eld. Such unique diversity and richness inspired the format of the meeting, and also explains the slight departure of the present volume from the typical format in this series: the exposition of the current sediment is complemented here by a selection of quali?ed specialized contributions.