Bourne Ph.E., Weissig H. (ed.). Structural bioinformatics

Wiley-Liss, 2003. - 650 p. (Methods of Biochemical Analysis) OCRThe basis for all structural bioinformatics, the central community database for structural biology, is the Protein Data Bank (PDB) and what it contains. Macromolecular structures are archived and represented in its master encyclopedia or community database. This book addresses the key points of the state of the art, beginning with delinitions and scope and our knowledge of protein structure and the tools for its deter- determination, and proceeds through what is needed from computer and information science and how these tools allow us to understand the complexity of biological systems. Over- Overall, the individual chapters outline the suite of major basic life science questions such as the status of efforts to predict protein structure and how proteins carry out cellular functions, and also the applied life science questions such as how structural bioinfor- bioinformatics can improve health care through accelerating drug discovery. Dictated by the process of uncovering the mechanisms through which macromolecules act. this journey of discovery, into all the quirks and still-undiscovered mainstream events, will keep biologists entertained for centuries to come. This book is a great guidebook and a proud step loward this understanding, and I recommend it to all of you.