Protein Structure Comparison

Abstract

An exquisite three-dimensional structure must be formed in order for a protein to exert its designated biological function. Protein structures are organized hierarchically, consisting of a variety of domains and motifs that have been conserved by evolution for specific functional purposes. Automated identification and classification of recurring protein structural domains and motifs are made possible in recent years by the development of efficient heuristic search methods for comparing protein structures. In this talk, I will discuss some of the methods reported in the literature, as well as a new one developed recently in my lab.