Aims

• To place structural bioinformatics in a wider context.
• To introduce the basic principles of protein conformation.

Objectives

After this lecture you will:

• be familiar with the basic features of protein conformation, and the abbreviations and symbols used in describing these;
• be aware of the twenty amino acid residues that are commonly found in proteins, and some of their properties;
• know about different levels of protein structure.

Supplementary Material

The article Abbreviations and Symbols for the Description of the Conformation of Polypeptide Chains (Eur. J. Biochem., 1969, 17, 193-201) contains the Rules prepared by the IUPAC-IUB Commission on Biochemical Nomenclature. I encourage you to read through all six sections of this article, and the appendices.

Part I of Principles of Protein Structure, Comparative Protein Modelling and Visualisation contains a useful introduction to protein structure.