Overview

As the tools and techniques of structural biophysics assume greater roles in biological research and a range of application areas, learning how proteins behave becomes crucial to understanding their connection to the most basic and important aspects of life. With more than 350 color images throughout, Introduction to Proteins: Structure, Function, and Motion presents a unified, in-depth treatment of the relationship between the structure, dynamics, and function of proteins. Taking a structural--biophysical approach, the authors discuss the molecular interactions and thermodynamic changes that transpire in these highly complex molecules. The text incorporates various biochemical, physical, functional, and medical aspects. It covers different levels of protein structure, current methods for structure determination, energetics of protein structure, protein folding and folded state dynamics, and the functions of intrinsically unstructured proteins. The authors also clarify the structure--function relationship of proteins by presenting the principles of protein action in the form of guidelines. This comprehensive, color book uses numerous proteins as examples to illustrate the topics and principles and to show how proteins can be analyzed in multiple ways. It refers to many everyday applications of proteins and enzymes in medical disorders, drugs, toxins, chemical warfare, and animal behavior. Downloadable questions for each chapter are available at CRC Press Online.

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9781439810712

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Reviews

The book by Kessel and Ben-Tal offers a unique combination of structure, thermodynamics and biology. I was impressed both by the breadth of the topics covered and by the depth in which they are treated. General principles are made intuitively clear based on well-chosen examples, many of them having relevance to disease. The book could fit well as a textbook in structural biology and molecular biophysics courses. --Barry Honig, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA ! the book provides general guidelines for understanding protein structure and demonstrates how we can use the structure to phrase testable hypotheses about biological function. ! The repeated use of the same example makes it easier for the reader to grasp the general principles. The book gives a coherent picture of each topic ! [and] includes ample references, making it possible for the interested reader to dig deeply into various topics. The book also covers structural aspects of intrinsically unstructured proteins and how this property facilitates their biological function. ! The book provides background in cell biology, basic chemistry and thermodynamics, making it useful for newcomers to the protein structure field who want to catch up quickly. ! it [is also] easy for experts to dive into the more specialized aspects quickly. ! The book provides references to user-friendly web tools in the field. The publisher's website provides exercises on both theory and practice. Sample solutions and PowerPoint presentations are available for qualified teachers. These make the book attractive as the main textbook in an undergraduate course on protein structure. Perhaps also for parts of freshman biochemistry. ! useful as supplement for many undergraduate and graduate courses. --Burkhard Rost, Technische Universitat Munchen, Germany

Author Information

Amit Kessel is co-founder of Es-is Technologies Ltd., which designs biocatalysts for the pharmaceutical industry. He also teaches protein biochemistry and biophysics at the Tel Aviv-Yaffo Academic College. During his postdoctoral research at Columbia University, Dr. Kessel focused on various physicochemical aspects of protein--protein interactions at the molecular level. Nir Ben-Tal is a professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Tel-Aviv University. His research in computational biology has involved predicting the three-dimensional structures of transmembrane proteins and developing the ConSurf web server for the detection of functional regions by mapping evolutionary data on protein structures.

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