Disordered Motifs and Domains in Cell Control - October 11-15, 2014

Disordered Motifs and Domains in Cell Control

Welcome Letter

October 2014

Dear Colleagues, On behalf of the Biophysical Society, we would like to welcome you to the Disordered Motifs and Domains in Cell Control meeting. Interest in intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) has exploded in recent years. It is now widely recognized that ~50% of human proteins are IDPs, or contain disordered regions, and that disorder is often essential for function. Furthermore, disorder is prevalent in the proteomes of most higher organisms. However, despite this broad awareness, in most cases we lack knowledge of the molecular functions associated with protein disorder. Consequently, numerous unresolved questions remain relating to the contribution of IDPs to biological processes in living systems. An emerging theme is that many disordered protein regions contain short linear motifs, or somewhat longer disordered domains, that mediate biomolecular interactions and thus drive biological function. These disordered motifs and domains are the subject of this thematic meeting. While we recognize the importance of disordered motifs and domains in the function of proteins, and there are more and more examples where the molecular details of their biological functions are understood, in general we currently can only speculate about their roles in the vast swaths of disorder within proteomes. At this meeting, structural biologists, biophysicists, cell biologists, systems biologists, computational biologists and bioinformaticians will assemble to reveal how disordered motifs and domains drive biological function. Key questions to be addressed include: What are the physical features of disordered motifs and how do these mediate their functional interactions? And how are these interactions regulated? Given our current knowledge of disordered motifs and domains, how can we identify others within uncharacterized regions of proteomes? And can their functions be predicted? How diverse are the molecular mechanisms associated with disordered motifs and domains? What are the links between the dynamics and conformational heterogeneity of disordered protein regions and function? What types of structures do disordered motifs and domains form? How diverse are the length scales of these structures? What are the selective pressures that have given rise to disordered protein regions through evolution? And how are the functions of disordered motifs and domains altered in disease? By bringing together scientists with widely ranging expertise and perspectives, we seek to collectively address these questions and transform our understanding of the roles of protein disorder in biology. This meeting offers a diverse program covering all aspects of the field with almost 40 lectures and over 50 posters. We hope to expand everyone’s view of disordered motifs and domains within proteins and achieve synergy to drive the field forward in future years. Most of all, we wish everyone a great meeting! Sincerely yours, Anna Akhmanova, Norman Davey, Ashok Deniz, Richard Kriwacki, and Sonia Longhi The Organizing Committee

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