Methods in Protein Sequence Analysis -1986 brings together reports of
the most recent methodology available to protein chemists for studying
the molecular detail of proteins. The papers in this volume constitute
the proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Methods in
Protein Sequence Analysis, which was held at the University of
Washington in Seattle, Washington on August 17-21, 1986. This series of
conferences has taken place during a period when new techniques in
protein chemistry and molecular biology have enabled not only
exploration of the control of protein function, but also deduction of
the genetic origin of proteins, and labo- ratory generation of rare
protein molecules for therapeu- tic and commercial use. The current
reports are focused on the means by which experimental questions can be
answered rather than on the biological implications in specific systems.
The scope of the meeting was quite broad, empha- sizing microanalytical
techniques and the relative merits of DNA sequencing, mass spectrometry
and more tradi- tional degradation techniques. A highlight of the
meeting was the Qrowing awareness of the role of mass spec- trometry In
the analysis of proteins. The complementarity of protein sequencing and
DNA sequencing techniques was apparent throughout the discussions and
several papers dealt with the strategy of obtaining sequence in-
formation from small amounts of protein in order that ap- propriate
oligonucleotide probes could be constructed and the encoding nucleic
acids se. quenced and manipu- lated.