Evolution of protein structural classes and protein sequence families.

ABSTRACT: In protein structure space, protein structures cluster into four elongated regions when mapped based solely on similarity among the 3D structures. These four regions correspond to the four major classes of present-day proteins defined by the contents of secondary structure types and their topological arrangement. Evolution of and restriction to these four classes suggest that, in most cases, the evolution of genes may have been constrained or selected to those genetic changes that results in structurally stable proteins occupying one of the four "allowed" regions of the protein structure space, "structural selection," an important component of natural selection in gene evolution. Our studies on tracing the "common structural ancestor" for each protein sequence family of known structure sug

SUBMITTER: Choi IG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1560931 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature