Protein Condensation

The quest to understand the condensation of proteins from solutions is a rapidly evolving field. The purpose of this book is to bring to an interdisciplinary audience the state-of-the-art in current research. The first part of the book deals with issues related to the production of high quality protein crystals from solution. Since protein function is determined by structure, high quality protein crystals must be grown in order to determine their structure by X-ray crystallography. The book also discusses diseases that occur due to undesired protein condensation, an increasingly important subject. Examples include sickle cell anemia, cataracts and Alzheimer's disease. Current experimental and theoretical work on these diseases is discussed, which seeks understanding at a fundamental, molecular level, to prevent the undesired condensation from occurring. The book, containing color plate sections, is suitable for graduate students and academic researchers in physics, chemistry, structural biology, protein crystallography and medicine. '... the text covers just about anything a researcher would need to know of the many research areas of protein crystallisation. From statistical tests to theoretical models and mathematics, Gunton et al. appear to include the lot.' Journal of Biological EducationPreface; 1. Introduction; 2. Globular protein structure; 3. Experimental methods; 4. Thermodynamics and statistical mechanics; 5. Protein-protein interactions; 6. Theoretical studies of equilibrium; 7. Nucleation theory; 8. Experimental studies of nucleation; 9. Lysozyme; 10. Some other globular proteins; 11. Membrane proteins; 12. Crystallins and cataracts; 13. Sickle hemoglobin and sickle cell anemia; 14, Alzheimer's disease; Index.