Structure
The structure of NGF was first solved by X-ray crystallography and published in 1991 by McDonald et al. in Nature. NGF forms a cystine knot structure made up of beta strands twisted around each other and linked by disulfide bonds. Most structures are dimeric. At the time this structure was solved, this fold had never been seen before. Hence NGF is the founding member of the nerve growth factor family of structurally conserved proteins.
Read more about this topic: Nerve Growth Factor
Famous quotes containing the word structure:
“Who says that fictions only and false hair
Become a verse? Is there in truth no beauty?
Is all good structure in a winding stair?
May no lines pass, except they do their duty
Not to a true, but painted chair?”
—George Herbert (1593–1633)
“A committee is organic rather than mechanical in its nature: it is not a structure but a plant. It takes root and grows, it flowers, wilts, and dies, scattering the seed from which other committees will bloom in their turn.”
—C. Northcote Parkinson (1909–1993)
“A special feature of the structure of our book is the monstrous but perfectly organic part that eavesdropping plays in it.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)