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How Structural Molecular Biology Came About

Richard E. Dickerson

308 pages, parution le 28/09/2005

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Résumé

This book chronicles a revolution in molecular biology-the crucial 30 years (roughly between 1933 and 1963) during which our ideas about proteins and nucleic acids changed from those of formless, functionless organic chemicals into precisely structured molecular machines with specific biological purpose. Proteins evolved from being colloidal micelles or globules with no specific structure (or even sequence) into quite precisely structured molecular catalysts, carrier proteins, and information-sensing agents. Indeed, the very idea that the amino acids of a protein were linked in a specific order in long linear chains was not accepted initially. During this same time period, DNA changed from being a sterile repeating polymer of no particular function (the tetranucleotide hypothesis) into a double helix that serves as the archive of genetic information. Without this revolution, molecular biology would not exist today, and biochemistry itself would still be a collection of recipes and unconnected empirical observations about a cellular slime known vaguely as "protoplasm."

L'auteur - Richard E. Dickerson

Richard E. Dickerson is Professor Emeritus in the Molecular Biology Institute of the University of California, Los Angeles. It was 1957 when he received his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Minnesota. His research (with William N. Lipscomb) involved the x-ray crystal structure analysis of inorganic molecules (boron hydrides). Postdoctoral work included fellowships at Leeds University, England (in the laboratory of Peter Wheatley of the Inorganic Chemistry Department) and Cambridge University. At Cambridge, in the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology (under John C. Kendrew), he helped to solve the first protein structure, that of sperm whale myoglobin. Later, at Caltech (1963), Dr. Dickerson solved and compared the structures of cytochromes, electron-transport proteins from mammals, fish, and microorganisms, with the goal of understanding both how they functioned and how they had evolved from common precursor molecules. More recently, he began a study of the way in which base sequence affects the structure of a DNA double helix, and how specific DNA sequences are recognized by drugs and control molecules. His lab was the first to carry out a single-crystal x-ray structure analysis of a B-DNA helix. Having come into his own in its final years, Dr. Dickerson offers a unique perspective on the discoveries and personalities that contributed to the molecular biology "revolution."

Sommaire

Introduction (goals and methodology of the book)
Your Cells Are Not Micelles! (the demolition of the colloid theory of proteins)
Workers of the World, Cast Off Your Chains! (cyclol rings vs. polypeptide chains)
The Folding and Coiling of Polypeptide Chains (a-helices, ß-sheets, etc.)
The Race for the DNA Double Helix (including various triple-helix blunders)
How to Solve a Protein Structure (Max Perutz and isomorphous replacement)
High-Resolution Protein Structure Analysis (myoglobin and hemoglobin)
The Knowledge Explosion (early protein workshops and what came next)
Epilogue (what has happened to all the pioneers)
Appendix 1: Pioneers of Structural Molecular Biology, 1933-1963
Appendix 2: Highly Recommended Readind
Appendix 3: Irving Geis, the Molecular Vesalius
Answers to Questions
Credits for the Key Papers
Index

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Caractéristiques techniques

	PAPIER
Éditeur(s)	Sinauer
Auteur(s)	Richard E. Dickerson
Parution	28/09/2005
Nb. de pages	308
Format	22,5 x 27,5
Couverture	Broché
Poids	1000g
Intérieur	Quadri
EAN13	9780878931682
ISBN13	978-0-87893-168-2