Structural genomics and its importance for gene function analysis.
Structural genomics projects aim to solve the experimental structures of all possible protein folds. Such projects entail a conceptual shift from traditional structural biology in which structural information is obtained on known proteins to one in which the structure of a protein is determined first and the function assigned only later. Whereas the goal of converting protein structure into function can be accomplished by traditional sequence motif-based approaches, recent studies have shown that assignment of a protein's biochemical function can also be achieved by scanning its structure for a match to the geometry and chemical identity of a known active site. Importantly, this approach can use low-resolution structures provided by contemporary structure prediction methods. When applied to genomes, structural information (either experimental or predicted) is likely to play an important role in high-throughput function assignment.
Skolnick
J
J
Laboratory of Computational Genomics, The Danforth Plant Science Center, 893 N, Warson Rd., St. Louis, MO 63141, USA. skolnick@danforthcenter.org
Fetrow
J S
JS
Kolinski
A
A
D000818:Animals; D003198:Computer Simulation; D016208:Databases, Factual; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D016678:Genome; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008967:Molecular Biology / Q000379:methods*; D017510:Protein Folding; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship