Tertiary Structure
Back to Main Index . . . last updated 7th.April'95
To best appreciate the content of this chapter you need to INTERACTIVELY EXAMINE
a number of protein structures.
If you haven't done so already, we STRONGLY URGE you to install
the FREE molecular viewer software, RasMol and configure it to be automatically
invoked by chemical/MIME. See our Technology Page to find
out how.
We now study the various ways in which secondary and super-secondary
structures are associated in real proteins, to form the next level of
organisation, generally referred to as tertiary structure.
There are various arrangements of alpha-helix, beta-sheet, and loops
which fold into distinct entities, often referred to as domains
(although the concept of a `domain' is not particularly well defined).
The association of domains into higher levels of (quaternary) structure
will be examined in more detail in a future chapter. But for now,
there are a number of variations on this theme, which are examined
under these headings.
You should consider wherabouts YOUR protein comes within this classification.
If you have MAGE installed and configured for Chemical MIME, you can view the
Branden and Tooze,
Protein Science and
Protein Tourist Kinemages, some of which are relevant to this material.
Again, refer to the
Technology Page if necessary.
There are some links to appropriate Kinemages within this chapter.
Credits
We wish to thank the following for the material incorporated into this chapter
Roger Sayle, GLAXO UK
Peer Bork at EMBL-Heidelberg, DE
Annalisa Pastore at EMBL-Heidelberg, DE
Manuel Peitsch at GLAXO, Geneva, CH
Members of the BSM group, University College, UK
R.Sowdhamini, ICRF, Birkbeck College,UK
Stephen Rufino, ICRF, Birkbeck College,UK
John Walshaw & Alan Mills, Birkbeck College, Apr'95