A half-century of oxidative folding and protein disulphide formation

Abstract

The preceding chapters in this volume are a dramatic demonstration of the extent and sophistication of our current understanding of the complex process of protein oxidative folding - a process of much chemical, biotechnological and biomedical interest, which has now been extensively characterised both in vitro and in cellulo. Of course there are many aspects about which we are still ignorant and many questions to which we require answers. But by comparison with the state of knowledge previously - even 20 years ago - we must recognise that this is now a mature field with an established body of -knowledge and some reliable techniques and experimental approaches. In this chapter, the half-century from 1961 to 2010 is divided into decades and the key developments within each decade are assessed. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.