The Structural Organization and Evolution of Macromolecules

Globular proteins are linear non-regular biopolymers formed by 20 types of amino acid [155]. Their three-dimensional structure arises as a result of the self-organization process [156): the polypeptide chain is spontaneously folded into a native structure, without any special agents, as early on as the synthesis stage or immediately after its termination. This means that all the information about the structure of globular proteins is encoded in their amino-acid sequences [156]. This has been confirmed by a series of brilliant experiments on the formation of a functionally active three-dimensional structure of ribonuclease after the chemical synthesis of its amino-acid sequence [157]; and also, by the restoration of the functional activity of certain proteins in the course of renaturation [158].