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05:08
A Practical Guide to Phage- and Robotics-Assisted Near-Continuous Evolution
Published on: January 12, 2024
Understanding protein evolution: from protein physics to Darwinian selection.
Konstantin B Zeldovich1, Eugene I Shakhnovich
1Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA. kzeldov@fas.harvard.edu
Annual Review of Physical Chemistry
|October 17, 2007
Summary
Understanding protein evolution requires integrating microscopic and macroscopic models. Bridging these scales offers a comprehensive view of the protein universe, from individual sequences to organism-level pressures.
Area of Science:
- Molecular biology
- Evolutionary biology
- Bioinformatics
Background:
- Whole-genome sequencing and structural proteomics offer insights into the protein universe.
- Previous sequence-based approaches struggled to quantitatively describe protein distributions due to organism-level evolutionary pressures.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review microscopic (physics-based) and macroscopic (organism-level) models of protein-sequence evolution.
- To demonstrate the benefits of integrating these two scales for a complete description of the protein universe.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing literature on microscopic and macroscopic models of protein evolution.
- Synthesis of findings from population genetics and phenomenological molecular evolution studies.
- Integration of physics-based and organism-level perspectives.
Main Results:
- Individual sequence analysis is insufficient for understanding evolutionary pressures.
- Mathematical frameworks exist for describing genome sequence changes in populations.
- A combined microscopic and macroscopic approach provides a more complete model.
Conclusions:
- Integrating microscopic and macroscopic models is crucial for a comprehensive understanding of the protein universe.
- This integrated approach allows for physiologically relevant and testable assumptions.
- Future research should focus on bridging these scales for a holistic view of protein evolution.
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