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Conformational issues in the characterization of proteins
Author(s) -
Price Nicholas C.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
biotechnology and applied biochemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.468
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1470-8744
pISSN - 0885-4513
DOI - 10.1042/ba19990102
Subject(s) - characterization (materials science) , computational biology , protein structure , flexibility (engineering) , chemistry , principal (computer security) , biophysics , biochemistry , biology , computer science , nanotechnology , materials science , statistics , mathematics , operating system
The conformation of a protein refers to the three‐dimensional arrangement of its constituent atoms. Since expression of the biological activity of a protein depends on its conformation, it is clear that full characterization of a protein involves an understanding of its three‐dimensional structure. This review outlines the principal techniques for determining the conformation of a protein, describes the crucial role played by the flexibility of proteins, and gives an account of current theories of the mechanisms by which proteins fold. A final section deals with strategies that can be adopted to preserve the conformational integrity of proteins; an aspect that is of increasing importance as a greater number of proteins are finding applications in industrial processes and as therapeutic and diagnostic agents.