The language of proteins

J. H. Parish

pp. 139-145

in: Ray Paton, Irene Neilson (eds), Visual representations and interpretations, Berlin, Springer, 1999

Abstract

The expression of genes involves processes for which the decoding of a language represents a metaphor. The final part of the process involves the acquisition of a three dimensional fold and to extend the metaphor the protein sequence is like a prose description of a three dimensional object. The rules for interpreting this language might not be the same for all protein families and, in this sense, the protein sequences might be regarded as automata.