Protein design is the design of new protein molecules from scratch. The number of possible amino acid sequences is infinite, but only a subset of these sequences will fold reliably and quickly to a single native state. Protein design involves identifying such sequences, in particular those with a physiologically active native state. A representation of the 3D structure of myoglobin, showing coloured alpha helices. ... In chemistry, an amino acid is any molecule that contains both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. ... A protein primary structure is a chain of amino acids. ... Protein folding is the process by which a protein assumes its functional shape or conformation. ... In biochemistry, the native state of a protein is its operative or functional form. ...

Protein design requires an understanding of the process by which proteins fold. In a sense it is the reverse of structure prediction: a tertiary structure is specified, and a primary sequence is identified which will fold to it. The protein folding process is still not completely understood, although recent developments in both experiment and theory have revealed much new information. Protein folding is the process by which a protein assumes its functional shape or conformation. ... Protein structure prediction is one of the most significant tasks tackled in computational structural biology. ...

The design of minimalist computer models of proteins (lattice proteins), and the secondary structural modification of real proteins, began in the mid-1990s. The de novo design of real proteins became possibly shortly afterwards, and the 21st century has seen the creation of small proteins with real biological function including catalysis and antiviral behaviour. There is great hope that the design of these and larger proteins will have application in medicine and bioengineering. Bioinformatics or computational biology is the use of techniques from applied mathematics, informatics, statistics, and computer science to solve biological problems. ... A representation of the 3D structure of the Myoglobin protein. ... In chemistry and biology, catalysis (in Greek meaning to annul) is the acceleration of the rate of a chemical reaction by means of a substance, called a catalyst, that is itself unchanged chemically by the overall reaction. ... Three types of viruses: a bacterial virus, otherwise called a bacteriophage (left center); an animal virus (top right); and a retrovirus (bottom right). ... Medicine is a branch of health science concerned with restoring and maintaining health. ... Biological engineering (a. ...

Reference

• Jin et al, Structure, 11, 581 (2003).
• Nagai et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 98, 3197 (2001).
• Saghatelian et al, Nature, 409, 797 (2001).