Nonlinear Signal Analysis Methods in the Elucidation of Protein Sequence−Structure Relationships

We tried to present the general meaning and scope the application of signal analysis methods to sequence-structure relationships. In our, the dominant character of this nascent field the number of the contributing disciplines, in terms of methodological (the data analysis come directly from engineering, applied, computational physics) and theoretical (the basic assumptions informing the various coming from molecular biology, evolutionary, physical chemistry, biochemistry). eloquently discussed in the Laughlin et al. paper “The Middle Way” (P. Proc. Natl. . Sci. U. S. A. 2000, 97, 32) the frontiers of science rapidly shifting from the investigation of the basic of matter to the elucidation of mesoscopic of organization. The study of proteins is perhaps the most typical“mesoscopic” investigation field with its mixing of physical laws, empirical results, and qualitative. 4 In this review we describe a particular that adopts an empirical style typical of chemistry, letting general principles emerge the practical solution of local cases.