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Nature Chemical Biology 2, 224–227 (1 May 2006) | doi:10.1038/nchembio0506-224

The integration of cell and chemical biology in protein folding

Jeffery W Kelly & William E Balch

Protein folding is required to realize the Central Dogma of biology: the information flow from DNA to RNA to proteins, which eventually leads to the production of small molecules. Like DNA and RNA, proteins are amino acid–based polymers with unique chemical properties that allow them to acquire precise folds so as to carry out function.