Explore the Structural Biology of Evolution
05/26
Evolution is a natural process where organisms compete in whatever environmental niche they occupy, and the best ones survive and succeed in the "game of life.” Organisms that are less able to compete go extinct. All of this happens without the need for intelligent intervention or design, albeit very slowly most of the time. Scientists believe that all species of living organisms on Earth arose through evolution from simple primordial unicellular organisms. Looking at the structures of biological molecules, we can explore how evolution has shaped modern proteins and nucleic acids, and search for clues about the molecular nature of the first living things. Scientists are also mimicking the natural processes of evolution in the laboratory, using it to improve the functional properties of proteins and nucleic acids under “artificial” selection pressure.
Evolution of cytochrome c. Variations in the protein from different organisms are compared to the human form, with small, conservative changes in light blue and larger changes in white. By counting up the number of changes, we can see that yeast is more distantly related to us than the other three animals.Past news and events have been reported at the RCSB PDB website and past Newsletters.
