Atlas of Protein Sequence and Structure: From the Beginning
| Dr. Dayhoff's work in the protein
field started in 1961, and included the development of computer aids to protein
sequence determination, such as the reconstruction of sequences from overlapping
peptides and the development of recognition and display programs for use
in X-ray crystallography. She pioneered the development of computer methods
for the comparison of protein sequences and for the derivation of evolutionary
histories from alignments of protein sequences. She was particularly interested in the possibility of deducing the evolutionary connections of the biological kingdoms, phyla, and other taxa from sequence evidence. Toward these ends she collected all the known protein sequences and, as a service to the scientific community, made them available to others in 1965 in a small book, the first Atlas of Protein Sequence and Structure, which contained sequence information on 65 proteins. The subsequent volumes of this Atlas served as a valuable reference work for scientists all over the world and laid the foundation for later use of sequence information for advancements in biology and medicine. |
|