Work

Nature of the protein universe

Year: 2009

Type: article

Abstract: The protein universe is the set of all proteins of all organisms. Here, all currently known sequences are analyzed in terms of families that have single-domain or multidomain architectures and whether they have a known three-dimensional structure. Growth of new single-domain families is very slow: Almost all growth comes from new multidomain architectures that are combinations of domains characterized by approximately 15,000 sequence profiles. Single-domain families are mostly shared by the major groups of organisms, whereas multidomain architectures are specific and account for species diversity. There are known structures for a quarter of the single-domain families, and >70% of all sequences can be partially modeled thanks to their membership in these families.

Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0905029106

Author: Michael Levitt

Institution: Stanford University

Language: English

Topic: Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies

Subfield: Molecular Biology

Field: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: Shandong Academy of Sciences, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of General Medical Sciences

Award: Accurate Modeling in Structural Genomics