The Tuberculin Protein TBU-Bovine (523)

Abstract

AS has been increasingly emphasized lately, the fundamental problem of protein structure is to explain the existence of very large but chemically and physically well-defined molecules. It is evident that any two-dimensional pattern of amino-acid residues will either be incapable of folding to form a closed cage-like structure, or will form such a structure only in certnin ways which correspond to definite numbers of residues. Irrespective of the particular nature of the characteristic protein fabric, the idea of closed structures (such as n cage² or torus or surfaces of higher connectivity) has therefore been offered as an explanation of the existence of these protein megamolecules.