Protein evolution follows a modular principle

Proteins impart shape and stability to cells, drive metabolic processes and transmit signals. To perform these manifold tasks, they fold into complex three-dimensional shapes. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Tübingen have now discovered that proteins can be constructed of similar amino acid chains even when their three-dimensional shapes differ significantly. This suggests that the proteins that exist today arose from common precursors. Presumably, in the course of evolution they were built up from smaller fragments according to a modular principle.

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