Introduction to Protein Structure

About this book

Introduction to Protein Structure gives an up-to-date account of the principles of protein structure, with examples of key proteins in their biological context generously illustrated in full colour to illuminate the structural principles described in the text. The first few chapters introduces the general principles of protein structure both for novices and for non-specialists needing a primer. Subsequent chapters use specific examples of proteins to show how they fulfil a wide variety of biological functions. The book ends with chapters on the experimental approach to determining and predicting protein structure, as well as engineering new proteins to modify their functions.

Contents

Part One: Basic Structural Principles. 1. The Building Blocks. 2. Motifs of Protein Structure. 3. Alpha-Domain Structures. 4. Alpha/Beta Structures. 5. Beta Structures. 6. Folding and Flexibility. 7. DNA Structures. Part Two: Structure, Function and Engineering. 8. DNA Recognition in Procaryotes by Helix-Turn-Helix Motifs. 9. DNA Recognition by Eucaryotic Transcription Factors. 10. Specific Transcription Factors Belong to a Few Families. 11. An example of Enzyme Catalysis: Serine Proteinases. 12. Membrane Proteins. 13. Signal Transduction. 14. Fibrous Proteins. 15. Recognition of Foreign Molecules by the Immune System. 16. The Structure of Spherical Viruses. 17. Prediction, Engineering, and design of Protein Structures. 18. Determination of Protein Structures.

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Biography

Carl Branden was educated at Uppsala University (Ph.D.) and the MRC Laboratory for Molecular Biology, Cambridge, where he was a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of J.C. Kendrew. He has pursued a career in basic research, science administration (as science advisor to the Swedish Government), and biotechnology. Formerly Research Director of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble, France, he is now at the Microbiology and Tumor Biology Center at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. A protein crystallographer with a distinguished academic career in research and teaching, he has made major contributions to the understanding of many biological structures, and is an editor of Structure. John Tooze was educated at Cambridge University (M.A.), London University (Ph.D.) and Harvard University (where he was a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of J.D. Watson). After several years in basic research, he moved principally into science administration and science publishing, notably as the executive secretary of the European Molecular Biology Organisation, Heidelberg, Germany. He is currently Director of Support Services at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund Laboratories, London, and editor of EMBO Journal. A molecular biologist, his previous books include Molecular Biology of Tumor Viruses, The DNA Story (with J.D. Watson) and the very successful first edition of Recombinant DNA: A Short Course (with J.D. Watson and D.T. Kurtz).