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Genes 2011, 2(3), 608-626; doi:10.3390/genes2030608
Article
Protein Folding Absent Selection
1
Sequenomics LLC, 1428 Chanterelle Lane, Hillsborough, NC 27278, USA
2
LifeSensors Inc., 271 Great Valley Parkway, Suite 100, Malvern, PA 19355, USA
3
Complex Systems Center University of Vermont, 200C Farrell Hall, 210 Colchester Ave., Burlington, VT 05405, USA
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 10 July 2011; in revised form: 5 August 2011 / Accepted: 11 August 2011 / Published: 16 August 2011
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Evolution and Structure of Proteins and Proteomes)
Download PDF Full-Text [299 KB, uploaded 16 August 2011 13:24 CEST]
Abstract: Biological proteins are known to fold into specific 3D conformations. However, the fundamental question has remained: Do they fold because they are biological, and evolution has selected sequences which fold? Or is folding a common trait, widespread throughout sequence space? To address this question arbitrary, unevolved, random-sequence proteins were examined for structural features found in folded, biological proteins. Libraries of long (71 residue), random-sequence polypeptides, with ensemble amino acid composition near the mean for natural globular proteins, were expressed as cleavable fusions with ubiquitin. The structural properties of both the purified pools and individual isolates were then probed using circular dichroism, fluorescence emission, and fluorescence quenching techniques. Despite this necessarily sparse “sampling” of sequence space, structural properties that define globular biological proteins, namely collapsed conformations, secondary structure, and cooperative unfolding, were found to be prevalent among unevolved sequences. Thus, for polypeptides the size of small proteins, natural selection is not necessary to account for the compact and cooperative folded states observed in nature.
Keywords: protein folding; evolution; sequence space
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MDPI and ACS Style
LaBean, T.H.; Butt, T.R.; Kauffman, S.A.; Schultes, E.A. Protein Folding Absent Selection. Genes 2011, 2, 608-626.
AMA StyleLaBean TH, Butt TR, Kauffman SA, Schultes EA. Protein Folding Absent Selection. Genes. 2011; 2(3):608-626.
Chicago/Turabian StyleLaBean, Thomas H.; Butt, Tauseef R.; Kauffman, Stuart A.; Schultes, Erik A. 2011. "Protein Folding Absent Selection." Genes 2, no. 3: 608-626.