A structure-centric view of protein evolution, design, and adaptation

Area of Science:

• Molecular Evolution
• Structural Biology
• Biochemistry

Background:

• Proteins are essential for biological processes, with their 3D structures determined by amino acid sequences.
• Understanding protein structure evolution is crucial due to the vast diversity of protein shapes.
• Recent research investigates how protein structures change and evolve over time.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review recent work on the structure-centric picture of protein evolution.
• To explore the discovery of new protein structures (folds/topologies) and the uneven distribution of protein structures.
• To discuss protein designability and its relationship with structure, and the field of protein structural phylogeny.

Main Methods:

• Review of recent scientific literature on protein evolution and structure.
• Analysis of theoretical models explaining protein population heterogeneity.
• Examination of evidence for sequence-structure divergence in evolution.
• Discussion of advances in understanding protein designability.
• Review of protein structural phylogeny methods.

Main Results:

• New protein structures arise through evolutionary processes.
• Theoretical models explain the heterogeneity in protein structure abundance.
• Protein sequence and structure divergence is a key evolutionary mechanism.
• Advances have been made in quantifying the relationship between structure and designability.
• Protein structural phylogeny aids in reconstructing evolutionary relationships.

Conclusions:

• The evolution of protein structures is a complex process involving sequence changes, structural innovation, and divergence.
• Understanding protein designability is key to comprehending evolutionary patterns.
• Protein structural phylogeny offers insights into the evolutionary history of proteins.
• Recent work provides a coherent view of how proteins have evolved.