We welcome suggestions for topics and content.
Previous Issues are available.
In structural genomics, researchers look for clues to the function of a protein in its three-dimensional structure. In the early stages of a pilot project to test the feasibility of structural genomics, UC Berkeley and Berkeley Lab researchers conducting protein crystallography experiments at the ALS have determined the structures of two proteins of previously unknown function. In one case, the structure suggested a small number of possible functions from which biochemical assays could then be used to pinpoint the actual function. Unfortunately, the function of a protein cannot be readily inferred from the DNA sequence of a gene unless that sequence is significantly similar to that of a gene whose function is already known. Assessing function by determining the structures of all the gene products of an organism would be an overwhelming task.