Kang Tse Siang, Kini R Manjunatha
The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
Cell Mol Life Sci. 2009 Jul;66(14):2341-61. doi: 10.1007/s00018-009-0023-5. Epub 2009 Apr 15.
The last several decades have seen an explosion of knowledge in the field of structural biology. With critical advances in spectroscopic techniques in examining structures of biomacromolecules, in maturation of molecular biology techniques, as well as vast improvements in computation prowess, protein structures are now being elucidated at an unprecedented rate. In spite of all the recent advances, the protein folding puzzle remains as one of the fundamental biochemical challenges. A facet to this empiric problem is the structural determinants of protein folding. What are the driving forces that pivot a polypeptide chain to a specific conformation amongst the vast conformation space? In this review, we shall discuss some of the structural determinants to protein folding that have been identified in the recent decades.
在过去的几十年里,结构生物学领域的知识呈爆炸式增长。随着用于研究生物大分子结构的光谱技术取得关键进展、分子生物学技术的成熟以及计算能力的大幅提升,蛋白质结构如今正以前所未有的速度被阐明。尽管最近取得了所有这些进展,但蛋白质折叠难题仍然是基本的生化挑战之一。这个经验性问题的一个方面是蛋白质折叠的结构决定因素。在广阔的构象空间中,是什么驱动力使多肽链转变为特定的构象?在这篇综述中,我们将讨论近几十年来已确定的一些蛋白质折叠的结构决定因素。