Projektnummer

0066843

Zusammenfassung

Proteins are ubiquitous biopolymers which carry out almost all essential functions of life. But where did proteins come from and how do new proteins emerge? It is widely assumed that new proteins derive from old proteins, via duplication and adaptation of one of the copies or by combining smaller, already viable fragments with a well-defined structure. However, it recently became clear that (i) many functional proteins do not assume well-defined structures, (ii) proteins from random sequences can adapt and assume novel functions too, and (iii) in modern organisms many functional protei...