title: Deciphering the message in protein sequences: tolerance to amino acid substitutions.
abstract: An amino acid sequence encodes a message that determines the shape and function of a protein. This message is highly degenerate in that many different sequences can code for proteins with essentially the same structure and activity. Comparison of different sequences with similar messages can reveal key features of the code and improve understanding of how a protein folds and how it performs its function.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139.
authors.forename: J U
authors.initials: JU
authors.lastname: Bowie
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Reidhaar-Olson
authors.forename: W A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: R T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Sauer
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D003196:Computer Graphics; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011487:Protein Conformation; D011506:Proteins / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D012097:Repressor Proteins; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship; D013499:Surface Properties; D014764:Viral Proteins; D054334:Viral Regulatory and Accessory Proteins
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D011506:Proteins; D012097:Repressor Proteins; D014764:Viral Proteins; D054334:Viral Regulatory and Accessory Proteins; C016649:phage repressor proteins