Liberles (molecular biology, U. of Wyoming) assembles 19 chapters drawn from the meeting, "Using Ancestral Sequence Reconstruction to Understand Protein Function," held in Kristineberg, Sweden, in March 2005. Following a historical and scientific overview of ancestral sequence reconstruction, the use of the technique to applications of drug design and substitutional mapping is discussed. Further chapters cover experimental methodology, and experimental synthesis of ancestral proteins, with specific topics addressing, for example, standard approaches for reconstruction, limitations and considerations, covarion or heterotacheous processes, the reference species tree and how different typologies can affect reconstructed sequences, converting sequences to proteins, and biological questions across different evolutionary depths. Contradictory views are presented to show the ongoing debates in the discipline. Contributors are scientists working around the world in fields such as genetics, biology, and bioinformatics. The volume is meant for graduate students and researchers in molecular biology and evolution, and evolutionary bioinformatics. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Ancestral sequence reconstruction is a technique of growing importance in molecular biology and comparative genomics. As a powerful technique for both testing evolutionary and ecological hypotheses as well as uncovering the link between sequence and molecular phenotype, there are potential applications in a number of fields. Beginning with a historical overview of the field including apllications, the discussion then moves into potential applications in drug discovery and the pharmaceutical industry. A section on computational methodology provides a detailed discussion on available methods for reconstructing ancestral sequences, including advantages,disadvantages, and potential pitfalls. Purely computational applications, including whole proteome reconstruction are discussed. Another section provides a detailed discussion on taking computationally reconstructed sequences and synthesizing them in the laboratory, while the last section describes scientific questions where experimental ancestral sequence reconstruction coupled to a computaional and experimental how-to guide, while simultaneously addressing some of the hot topics in the field.
