The molecular mechanisms that underpin antigen processing and presentation are central to understanding the control of immune responsiveness. Consequently they are important for understanding and manipulating the immune system in normal and disease states. Over the last decades, charactersiation of the atomic structures and interactions between key molecules in the pathway has greatly advanced our understanding of immunology. More recently insight into the contribution of atomic scale dynamics of these proteins has highlight the significance of protein plasticity in controlling immune system function.
Proteins are pliable and exist in nature as dynamic entities whose structures fluctuate between different conformations at rates varying over a wide range of timescales. The development of increasingly sophisticated methods for the study of protein dynamics has enabled the structural biology community to demonstrate the functional significance of these motions leading to an extension of the structure–function paradigm to include dynamics.
Several articles in this Research Topic will focus on the developments of concepts, simulations and experimental approaches in the study of protein dynamics with regards to protein folding, enzyme function and molecular recognition with a particular focus and examples of how these affect our understanding of immunology.
The molecular mechanisms that underpin antigen processing and presentation are central to understanding the control of immune responsiveness. Consequently they are important for understanding and manipulating the immune system in normal and disease states. Over the last decades, charactersiation of the atomic structures and interactions between key molecules in the pathway has greatly advanced our understanding of immunology. More recently insight into the contribution of atomic scale dynamics of these proteins has highlight the significance of protein plasticity in controlling immune system function.
Proteins are pliable and exist in nature as dynamic entities whose structures fluctuate between different conformations at rates varying over a wide range of timescales. The development of increasingly sophisticated methods for the study of protein dynamics has enabled the structural biology community to demonstrate the functional significance of these motions leading to an extension of the structure–function paradigm to include dynamics.
Several articles in this Research Topic will focus on the developments of concepts, simulations and experimental approaches in the study of protein dynamics with regards to protein folding, enzyme function and molecular recognition with a particular focus and examples of how these affect our understanding of immunology.