Protein Families

New insights into the evolution and nature of proteins
Exploring several distinct approaches, this book describes themethods for comparing protein sequences and protein structures inorder to identify homologous relationships and classify proteinsand protein domains into evolutionary families. Readers willdiscover the common features as well as the key philosophicaldifferences underlying the major protein classification systems,including Pfam, Panther, SCOP, and CATH. Moreover, they'll discoverhow these systems can be used to understand the evolution ofprotein families as well as understand and predict the degree towhich structural and functional information are shared betweenrelatives in a protein family.
Edited and authored by leading international experts, ProteinFamilies offers new insights into protein families that areimportant to medical research as well as protein families that helpus understand biological systems and key biological processes suchas cell signaling and the immune response. The book is divided intothree sections:
* Section I: Concepts Underlying Protein FamilyClassification reviews the major strategies for identifyinghomologous proteins and classifying them into families.
* Section II: In-Depth Reviews of Protein Families focuseson some fascinating super protein families for which we havesubstantial amounts of sequence, structural and functional data,making it possible to trace the emergence of functionally diverserelatives.
* Section III: Review of Protein Families in ImportantBiological Systems examines protein families associated with aparticular biological theme, such as the cytoskeleton.
All chapters are extensively illustrated, including depictionsof evolutionary relationships. References at the end of eachchapter guide readers to original research papers and reviews inthe field.
Covering protein family classification systems alongsidedetailed descriptions of select protein families, this book offersbiochemists, molecular biologists, protein scientists, structuralbiologists, and bioinformaticians new insight into the evolutionand nature of proteins.