= Model protein
<Ciro Santilli> defines a "<model protein>" as a protein which has been significantly used in the history of protein science, in analogy to the term <model organism>.
Key characteristics of <model proteins> include:
* they are easy to obtain and are stable
* they are important to medical applications
* they are small and easier to understand for early studies
Important model proteins include:
* <insulin>: as a <peptide hormone>, this was small. Also it was useful and widely available even at pharmacies, <The Eighth Day of Creation> says you could get it a Boots, a major British pharmacy chain, and as such was a natural choice for the first sequencing by <Frederick Sanger> published in 1951
* <hemoglobin>
Back to article page