Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 8, 2026

Using Caenorhabditis elegans as a Model System to Study Protein Homeostasis in a Multicellular Organism
Published on: December 18, 2013
Evolutionary conservation of the folding nucleus
1Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, 12 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA
Abstract:
Here, we present statistical analysis of conservation profiles in families of homologous sequences for nine proteins whose folding nucleus was determined by protein engineering methods. We show that in all but one protein (AcP) folding nucleus residues are significantly more conserved than the rest of the protein. Two aspects of our study are especially important: (i) grouping of amino acid residues into classes according to their physical-chemical properties and (ii) proper normalization of amino acid probabilities that reflects the fact that evolutionary pressure to conserve some amino acid types may itself affect concentration of various amino acid types in protein families. Neglect of any of those two factors may make physical and biological "signals" from conservation profiles disappear.
Related Concept Videos
Conserved Binding Sites
Binding sites are often located in large pockets, and if their location on a protein’s surface is unknown, it can be predicted using various approaches. The energetic method computationally analyses the...
Conserved Binding Sites
Binding sites are often located in large pockets, and if their location on a protein’s surface is unknown, it can be predicted using various approaches. The energetic method computationally analyses the...
Conservation of Protein Domains
A limited set of protein domains often duplicate and recombine during evolution. These domains can be organized in different combinations to form...
Protein Folding
Protein Structure Is Critical to Its Biological Function
Proteins perform a wide range of biological functions such as catalyzing chemical reactions, providing...
Protein Folding
Protein Folding
