Homology among (betaalpha)(8) barrels: implications for the evolution of metabolic pathways

The TIM-barrel fold: a versatile framework for efficient enzymes

Recent studies on triosephosphate isomerase (TIM)-barrel enzymes highlight the remarkable versatility of the TIM-barrel scaffold. At least 15 distinct enzyme families use this framework to generate the appropriate active site geometry, always at the C-terminal end of the eight parallel beta-strands of the barrel. Sequence and structure comparisons now suggest that many of the TIM-barrel enzymes are evolutionarily related. Common structural properties of TIM-barrel enzymes are discussed.

Integration of genome data and protein structures: prediction of protein folds, protein interactions and "molecular phenotypes" of single nucleotide polymorphisms

With the massive amount of sequence and structural data being produced, new avenues emerge for exploiting the information therein for applications in several fields. Fold distributions can be mapped onto entire genomes to learn about the nature of the protein universe and many of the interactions between proteins can now be predicted solely on the basis of the genomic context of their genes. Furthermore, by utilising the new incoming data on single nucleotide polymorphisms by mapping them onto three-dimensional structures of proteins, problems concerning population, medical and evolutionary genetics can be addressed.