Protein structural transitions and their functional role

A review.  Living cells are a collection of mol. machines which carry out many of the functions essential for the cell's existence, differentiation, and reprodn.  Most, although not all, of these machines are made up of proteins.  Because of their complexity, an understanding of how they work requires a synergistic combination of exptl. and theor. studies.  Here, the authors outline and discuss their studies of 2 such protein machines.  One is GroEL, the mol. chaperone from Escherichia coli, which aids in protein folding, and the other is F1-ATPase, a motor protein which synthesizes and hydrolyzes ATP.