Introduction to Protein Structure

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).

PART 1 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 2 STRUCTURE, FUNCTION AND ENGINEERING 8. DNA Recognition in Procaryotes by Helix-Turn-Helix Motifs 9. DNA Recognition by Eukaryotic 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