PROTEINS: Structure, Function, and Genetics 12:200 (1992)
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BOOK REVIEW
Zntroduction to Protein Structure, by Carl Branden and John Tooze. New York: Garland Publishing Com-
pany, 302 pages, $27.95 (paper), 1991.
Knowledge of protein structure is increasingly be-
coming part of the essential scientific background
needed by researchers in biology and medicine.
Learning protein structure is a frustrating experi-
ence. Not unlike assembling a jigsaw puzzle, aggra-
vation arises from spending so much effort on an
incomplete picture. And when you are done the
product is still full of cracks. Teaching protein struc-
ture is so much harder than learning it because so
much detail is needed to convince students of the
principles, and the detail is in three dimensions, to-
pology and complex molecular interactions. Stu-
dents and teachers need a readable entry-level text.
Branden and Tooze’s Introduction to Protein Struc-
ture is a n excellent solution. This book can be read
easily. Because of its upbeat style and effective use
of color in the many, many beautiful illustrations,
Introduction to Protein Structure can be thought of
as vacation reading-at least for the dedicated.
Part 1 covers the basic principles in the sense of
building blocks, i.e., the geometric essentials are all
beautifully explained. Motifs, arrangements of
structural elements are discussed for the major
classes of proteins with emphasis on evolutionary
underpinnings. The relationships that link struc-
ture of the protein to its function are highlighted
whenever possible. Even DNA structures are briefly
treated but only for the later discussions on the pro-
teins that interact with nucleic acids.
Part 1 is not sophisticated in the physical chemi-
cal sense in that the role of water, electrostatics and
other forces involved in determining folding of the
protein are not discussed. However, this part is not
simply descriptive it is evaluative in the geometric
and topological study of proteins.
The early sections of Part 2 provide a thorough
discussion of protein DNA interactions, a simplified
view of spherical viruses and details of macromolec-
ular interactions in the immune system viewed by
the protein molecular biologist. No other single ref-
erence about the structure-function of protein nu-
cleic acids interactions is as varied, concise, or richly
illustrated as this section of the book. The immunol-
ogy section is also splendid reading.
0 1992 WILEY-LISS, INC.
Later sections deal with membrane proteins and
enzyme catalysis. These areas are newer fields to
the protein structural biologist. The material is well
developed and up to date. Basic principles are ex-
tracted from the few membrane protein structures
available and these principles when studied will re-
ward the reader. The treatment of catalysis brings
in protein engineering and promotes knowledge of
static structure and engineered proteins as a mod-
ern means of understanding rate enhancement by
enzymes. The enzymologist may be disappointed at
the neglect of other than structure based experimen-
tal data. This section is clearly not meant to provide
the key to understanding enzymes but in discussing
serine protease catalysis a n illuminating example of
the linkage between structure and function is again
revealed.
Part 2 of the book concludes with a section on
prediction of protein structure that is too short and
discusses the design of proteins as viewed by the
molecular engineer. This new field is well presented
and its impact is apparent. The final chapter deals
with NMR and X-ray crystallography for a brief dis-
cussion about the origin of the material in the text
book. This section is too short to quench the thirst of
the by now dedicated budding structural biologist.
This and all sections are terminated in a well
thought out selection of further reading.
The book will be a n appreciated addition to the
library of a broadly defined group of structure en-
thusiasts, biochemists, and molecular and cell biol-
ogists. It could be used as a n undergraduate text and
as a graduate introductory text.
Robert J. Fletterick
Professor, Department of Biochemistry
and Biophysics,
University of California at San Francisco
San Francisco, California 94143
Received and accepted for publication October 21, 1991.