title: Expanding protein universe and its origin from the biological Big Bang.
abstract: The bottom-up approach to understanding the evolution of organisms is by studying molecular evolution. With the large number of protein structures identified in the past decades, we have discovered peculiar patterns that nature imprints on protein structural space in the course of evolution. In particular, we have discovered that the universe of protein structures is organized hierarchically into a scale-free network. By understanding the cause of these patterns, we attempt to glance at the very origin of life.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, 12 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. dokh@med.unc.edu
authors.forename: Nikolay V
authors.initials: NV
authors.lastname: Dokholyan
authors.forename: Boris
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Shakhnovich
authors.forename: Eugene I
authors.initials: EI
authors.lastname: Shakhnovich
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D008958:Models, Molecular; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D011506:Proteins