Biophysical Characterization and Molecular Engineering of Multidomain Proteins (4th Edition)
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Biophysics".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 December 2025 | Viewed by 11
Special Issue Editors
Interests: biomolecular ordering; glycobiophysics; biomolecular NMR spectroscopy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: single-molecule biophysics; protein dynamics; protein assembly; atomic force microscopy; optical microscopy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
This Special Issue is the continuation of our previous Special Issues “Biophysical Characterization and Molecular Engineering of Multidomain Proteins”, “Biophysical Characterization and Molecular Engineering of Multidomain Proteins 2.0”, and “Biophysical Characterization and Molecular Engineering of Multidomain Proteins 3.0”.
Most proteins functioning in living systems consist of evolutionarily acquired multiple domains that cooperate and exhibit synergistic actions, enabling sophisticated functions, such as allosteric regulation. Multidomain proteins are characterized by their structural complexity and dynamic behavior, as their globular domains, connected by flexible linkers, are capable of adopting various spatial arrangements in response to cognate ligands, binding partners, or environmental conditions such as pH. While structural proteomics and bioinformatics have significantly advanced the systematic classification and tertiary structural prediction of individual domains, understanding the overall conformations and dynamic behaviors of multidomain proteins remains a major challenge due to the inherent flexibility of these macromolecules.
Current research highlights include the use of experimental approaches—such as small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM)—combined with computational modeling to capture dynamic domain–domain interactions. Despite these advances, unresolved problems persist, such as the difficulty in predicting interdomain motions and accurately modeling conformational ensembles. Moreover, the development of high-resolution techniques to study multidomain proteins under near-physiological conditions is an ongoing priority.
Emerging hotspots in the field include the study of multidomain protein functions in signaling pathways, the structural basis of allosteric regulation, and the engineering of novel multidomain proteins with tailored properties for industrial, therapeutic, and biotechnological applications. Future directions involve integrating experimental and computational methods to provide a holistic understanding of multidomain protein dynamics, uncovering design rules for engineering functional multidomain proteins, and applying these insights to address challenges in synthetic biology and drug development.
As the guest editors of this Special Issue, titled “Biophysical Characterization and Molecular Engineering of Multidomain Proteins (4th Edition)”, in IJMS, we welcome contributions from various research fields, including biophysics, bioinformatics, biomolecular engineering, and molecular phylogenetics. Formats for submissions include original research reports, reviews/mini-reviews, perspectives/opinions, and methodology articles.
Prof. Dr. Koichi Kato
Prof. Dr. Takayuki Uchihashi
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- multidomain proteins
- protein dynamics
- domain interactions
- allosteric regulation
- protein engineering
- SAXS
- Cryo-EM
- protein NMR
- computational modeling
- protein design
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Related Special Issues
- Biophysical Characterization and Molecular Engineering of Multidomain Proteins in International Journal of Molecular Sciences (14 articles)
- Biophysical Characterization and Molecular Engineering of Multidomain Proteins 2.0 in International Journal of Molecular Sciences (8 articles)
- Biophysical Characterization and Molecular Engineering of Multidomain Proteins 3.0 in International Journal of Molecular Sciences (8 articles)
