Ribosomal Proteins and Protein Engineering Design, Selection, and Applications

Ribosome is an important cellular organelle that is necessary for the basic cellular process, protein synthesis. Furthermore, ribosomal protein is a group of proteins that is important in biomedical research. The authors of this book present and review important data on ribosomal proteins, important in tropical diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis. In addition, some functions of ribosomal proteins, other than translation, are called extraribosomal function or extraribosomal activity. In this book, the extraribosomal functions of ribosomal protein S19 (RPS19) is discussed in detail. Other chapters in this book examine the structures of the free and bound forms of proteins that have experimentally been found to be essential for the first steps of ribosome assembly. A summary of ribosomal protein mutations generated in eukaryotes is also provided and their proposed roles in the control of cell growth and proliferation, as well as their impact in human diseases. Important challenges we face in explaining life from the genome and proteome viewpoint is also discussed, including how to measure a living protein/RNA/DNA, how to restore the missing relation cross generations and how to correlate structure with function. Finally, the authors suggest possible solutions for such challenges.