title: Predicting the conformations of peptides and proteins in early evolution. A review article submitted to Biology Direct.
abstract: Considering that short, mainly heterochiral, polypeptides with a high glycine content are expected to have played a prominent role in evolution at the earliest stage of life before nucleic acids were available, we review recent knowledge about polypeptide three-dimensional structure to predict the types of conformations they would have adopted. The possible existence of such structures at this time leads to a consideration of their functional significance, and the consequences for the course of evolution.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedical and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, G12 8QQ, UK. J.Milner-White@bio.gla.ac.uk
authors.forename: E James
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Milner-White
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Russell
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D006801:Humans; D000069497:Origin of Life; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D011487:Protein Conformation; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D010455:Peptides; D011506:Proteins