Instrumental Analysis of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins

Book excerpt: Instrumental techniques for analyzing intrinsically disordered proteins The recently recognized phenomenon of protein intrinsic disorder is gaining significant interest among researchers, especially as the number of proteins and protein domains that have been shown to be intrinsically disordered rapidly grows. The first reference to tackle this little-documented area, Instrumental Analysis of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins: Assessing Structure and Conformation provides researchers with a much-needed, comprehensive summary of recent achievements in the methods for structural characterization of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs). Chapters discuss: Assessment of IDPs in the living cell Spectroscopic techniques for the analysis of IDPs, including NMR and EPR spectroscopies, FTIR, circular dichroism, fluorescence spectroscopy, vibrational methods, and single-molecule analysis Single-molecule techniques applied to the study of IDPs Assessment of IDP size and shape Tools for the analysis of IDP conformational stability Mass spectrometry Approaches for expression and purification of IDPs With contributions from an international selection of leading researchers, Instrumental Analysis of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins: Assessing Structure and Conformation fills an important need in a rapidly growing field. It is required reading for biochemists, biophysicists, molecular biologists, geneticists, cell biologists, physiologists, and specialists in drug design and development, proteomics, and molecular medicine with an interest in proteins and peptides.