Relating Cellular to Molecular Specificity

Barry Honig

Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics, Columbia University

There are many examples in Biology where functional specificity is coded on the sequence and structure of closely related members of a single protein family. For example, different Hox proteins assign morphological identities along the anterior posterior axis of vertebrates and invertebrates based on their ability to distinguish among very similar DNA sequences. Cadherins are cells adhesion proteins that, despite remarkably similar sequences and structures, recognize each other in such a way that they produce highly specific cell-cell adhesion when presented on apposing cell surfaces. The molecular basis of these phenomena will be discussed based both on computational and theoretical analyses of three-dimensional molecular structures and on  in-vitro and in-vivo assays of molecular and cellular function.