Protein Condensation: Kinetic Pathways to Crystallization and Disease

by James D. Gunton , Andrey Shiryayev , Daniel L. Pagan

• ISBN13: 9780521851213
• ISBN10: 0521851211
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-10-27
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The quest to understand the condensation of proteins from solutions is a rapidly evolving field. The purpose of this book is to bring to an interdisciplinary audience the state-of-the-art in current research. The first part of the book deals with issues related to the production of high quality protein crystals from solution. Since protein function is determined by structure, high quality protein crystals must be grown in order to determine their structure by X-ray crystallography. The book also discusses diseases that occur due to undesired protein condensation, an increasingly important subject. Examples include sickle cell anemia, cataracts and Alzheimer's disease. Current experimental and theoretical work on these diseases is discussed, which seeks understanding at a fundamental, molecular level, to prevent the undesired condensation from occurring. The book, containing color plate sections, is suitable for graduate students and academic researchers in physics, chemistry, structural biology, protein crystallography and medicine.

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

Globular protein structure

Experimental methods

Thermodynamics and statistical mechanics

Protein-protein interactions

Theoretical studies of equilibrium

Nucleation theory

Experimental studies of nucleation

Lysozyme

Some other globular proteins

Membrane proteins

Crystallins and cataracts

Sickle hemoglobin and sickle cell anemia

Alzheimer's disease

Index.

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.