Harvard researchers probe protein diversity
Proteins make up a wildly diverse class of molecule, with key roles in everything from catalyzing reactions to helping fight off infection to transporting oxygen through the body. Now, Harvard scientists are beginning to provide answers on drivers of that diversity. Led by Eugene Shakhnovich, a professor of chemistry and chemical biology, and Amy Gilson, a graduate student in Shakhnovich’s lab, investigators have found that the stability of proteins plays an important role in the evolution of different protein structures. The research also suggests that the wide diversity of proteins likely evolved from a small number of ancestors. “There are two fundamental issues we’re addressing with this paper. One is whether all the diversity we see evolved from a small number of ancestors or if these structures evolved convergently,” said Gilson, who is a doctoral candidate in chemical physics at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. The second, she said, was why...