A Tool to Teach Evolution of Protein Sequences and Structures

Computer modeling and protein structure visualization tools are effective and engaging ways of presenting various molecular biology concepts to high school and college students. Here, we describe a series of activities and exercises that use online bioinformatics databases and programs to search for and obtain protein sequence and structure data and use it to build homology models of proteins. Exercises in homology modeling can serve the pedagogical purpose of introducing and illustrating the concept of homology within gene and protein families, which results in conservation of the 3D structures of proteins and allows us to predict structures when experimental data are not available.