%0 Journal Article %T Conservation of the three-dimensional structure in non-homologous or unrelated proteins %A Sousounis Konstantinos %A Haney Carl E %A Cao Jin %A Sunchu Bharath %J Human Genomics %D 2012 %I BioMed Central %R 10.1186/1479-7364-6-10 %X In this review, we examine examples of conservation of protein structural motifs in unrelated or non-homologous proteins. For this, we have selected three DNA-binding motifs: the histone fold, the helix-turn-helix motif, and the zinc finger, as well as the globin-like fold. We show that indeed similar structures exist in unrelated proteins, strengthening the concept that three-dimensional conservation might be more important than the primary amino acid sequence. %K 3D protein structure %K Conserved motifs %K Unrelated proteins %U http://www.humgenomics.com/content/6/1/10