Proteins and Protein-Ligand Interactions 2.0

Dear Colleagues,

Proteins are biopolymers present in all living cells/organisms that take part in basically all processes in life by exerting extremely broad functional versatility, such as structural, catalytic, signaling, transportational, and regulatory.

All protein functions are realized by highly specific and highly effective protein–ligand interactions, where ligands can be either other protein molecules, nucleic acids, lipids, small molecules, substrates, allosteric modulators, inhibitors, or some drugs. Indeed, the specificity of protein-ligand interactions and their regulatory mechanisms are responsible for normal cell functionality, and alterations might lead to pathological processes. Knowledge about the nature of these interactions at the atomistic level and the impact of the conformational flexibility and mutational effects on them is crucially important for understanding the molecular nature of cell processes and will contribute to the fields of drug design and biotechnology.

This Special Issue of IJMS aims to present a tribune to broad-ranging state-of-the-art experimental or computational studies or their synergetic combination for understanding protein–ligand interactions in their very broad context. We are also looking for contributions underscoring the impact of the investigated processes in biomedicine and molecular pathology as well as applications of protein–ligand interactions in biotechnology and the food industry.

Dr. Tatyana Karabencheva-Christova
Prof. Dr. Christo Z. Christov
Guest Editors

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• protein functions
• protein structures
• protein–ligand interactions
• drug design
• food industry