Foundations of Structural Biology

Imagine trying to understand an engine without visualizing its moving parts. Biological processes involve far more complex chemical reactions and components than any engine. Furthermore, the parts work together to do many more functions than an engine which sole task is to turn a shaft. Understanding the implications of the three-dimensional coordinates for a molecule with several thousand atoms requires an understanding of, and practice with, 3D imaging. For many biologists, this means acquiring a whole new set of skills. Foundations of Structural Biology is aimed at helping the reader develop visualization skills for protein or DNA segments, while also describing the fundamental principles underlying the organization and interaction between these complex molecules.

"This well-written book describes the principles of modern structural biology as derived from the analysis of the hardcore data from X-ray diffraction and NMR studies of protein structure. ...Addressed to the average student of disciplines such as biology or chemistry, the main objective of the book is to provide the learning mechanisms for visualizing proteins and nucleic acids in terms of their three-dimensional conformations. Throughout the book, there is coherent advice encouraging the reader to use computer tools in order to gather and manipulate information from structural biology databases, and to learn how to extract useful information from the intrinsic comp1exity of structural studies complemented with several well-chosen problems proposed at the end of each chapter....this book is worth reading for students and young researchers who are interested on macromolecular biostructures and who wish to learn how to look at them."—BIOCHIMIE