Structural aspects of biomolecular recognition and self-assembly

Proteins are capable of fulfilling two important features of any likely system of bioelectronics: the ability to recognise other molecules with exquisite specificity, and the ability to self-assemble, in vivo and in vitro, to generate an astonishing variety of three-dimensional structures. Much current work is aimed at the redesign of existing proteins, either as an end in itself or as a means of developing the knowledge-base necessary for the ab initio design of novel proteins. This type of study has been greatly facilitated by the discovery of the modular or domain structure of many proteins, leading to concepts of protein manipulation as a kind of molecular Lego.