Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-nmvwc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-23T11:12:31.784Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Protein evolution and its analytical potential

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2011

Mark J. Dufton
Mark J. Dufton
Affiliation:
Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry, University of Strathclyde, Thomas Graham Building, 295 Cathedral Street, Glasgow G1 1XL, U.K.
Get access

Synopsis:

With the recent advances in gene technology, a substantial premium has been placed on the ability to predict protein structure and mechanism from sequence data alone. This is because the direct experimental approaches are more time and labour intensive, and progress is slower. One area of theoretical investigation which has a clear potential to assist in predictive exercises is the natural evolution of protein structure and sequence.

Some aspects of protein evolution, such as the fact that homology of sequence often denotes common ancestry, are routinely considered in predicting three-dimensional structure and mechanism. However, there are other aspects to this natural process which are either not realised or are not appreciated as potential analytical tools.

This article introduces the different ways protein evolution can be investigated and indicates developing techniques as well as those already well established.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Section B: Biological Sciences , Volume 99 , Issue 1-2: The Advancement of Drug Discovery , 1992 , pp. 113 - 121
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Breckenridge, R. & Dufton, M. J. 1987. The structural evolution of cobra venom cytotoxins. Journal of Molecular Evolution 26, 274–83.Google Scholar
Doolittle, R. F. (ed.) 1990. Molecular evolution: computer analysis of protein and nucleic acid sequences. Methods in Enzymology, Vol. 183. London; New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Dufton, M. J. 1983. The significance of redundancy in the genetic code. Journal of Theoretical Biology 102, 521–6.Google Scholar
Dufton, M. J. 1985. Proteinase inhibitors and dendrotoxins. European Journal of Biochemistry 153, 647–54.Google Scholar
Dufton, M. J. & Bladon, P. 1988. A method for detecting centres of natural selection in protein structures. Journal of Theoretical Biology 134, 331–39.Google Scholar
Dufton, M. J. & Harvey, A. L. 1989. The long and the short of snake toxins. Trends in Pharmacological Sciences 10, 258–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dufton, M. J., Bladon, P. & Harvey, A. L. 1989. Identification of a locality in snake venom α-neurotoxins with a significant compositional similarity to marine snake α-conotoxins. Journal of Molecular Evolution 29, 355–66.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harvey, A. L. 1992. From venom to toxin to drug? Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 99B, 55–64.Google Scholar
Ménez, A., Bontems, F., Roumestand, C., Gilquin, B. & Toma, F. 1992. Structural basis for functional diversity of animal toxins. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 99B, 65–86.Google Scholar
Taylor, W. R. 1986. The classification of amino acid conservation. Journal of Theoretical Biology 119, 205–18.Google Scholar