Protein design: On the threshold of functional properties

✍ Scribed by Gabriele Tuchscherer; Lukas Scheibler; Pascal Dumy; Manfred Mutter

• Publisher: Wiley (John Wiley & Sons)
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 225 KB
• Volume: 47
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0006-3525
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0282(1998)47:1<63::aid-bip7>3.0.co;2-v

✦ Synopsis

The ultimate goal in protein de novo design is the creation of novel macromolecules with tailor-made receptor, sensory, and catalytic functions. Despite considerable progress in understanding basic rules of secondary structure formation and protein stability, the wellknown protein folding problem is still far from being solved and, in general, only a limited number of designed proteins are folded uniquely. In this article the state-of-the-art in protein design is demonstrated on some selected examples, indicating that the construction of proteinlike macromolecules mimicking some essential features of natural proteins seems to be within reach. Thus, protein design and mimicry has become an interdisciplinary challenge with most intriguing perspectives.