title: Assessing the progress of Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv structural genomics.
abstract: Tuberculosis threatens human health nowhere more than in developing countries with large malnourished and/or immune-compromised (e.g. HIV infected) populations. The etiological agent, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), is highly infectious and current interventions demonstrate limited ability to control the epidemic in particular of drug resistant Mtb strains. New drugs and vaccines are thus urgently required. Structural biologists are critical to the TB research community. By identifying potential drug targets and solving their three dimensional structures they open new avenues of identifying potential inhibitors complementing the screening of novel compounds and the investigation of Mtb's molecular physiology by pharmaceutical companies and academic researchers. Much effort has gone into structurally elucidating the Mtb proteome though much remains to be done with progress primarily limited by technological constraints. We review the currently available data for Mtb H37Rv to extract the lessons they have taught us.
authors.affiliation: DST/NRF Centre of Excellence in Biomedical Tuberculosis Research, US/MRC Centre for Molecular and Cellular Biology, Division of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Stellenbosch, Francie van Zijl Drive, Tygerberg 7505, South Africa. Electronic address: zf@sun.ac.za.
authors.forename: Zhuo
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.affiliation: DST/NRF Centre of Excellence in Biomedical Tuberculosis Research, US/MRC Centre for Molecular and Cellular Biology, Division of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Stellenbosch, Francie van Zijl Drive, Tygerberg 7505, South Africa. Electronic address: rvdm@sun.ac.za.
authors.forename: Ruben Gerhard
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: van der Merwe
authors.affiliation: DST/NRF Centre of Excellence in Biomedical Tuberculosis Research, US/MRC Centre for Molecular and Cellular Biology, Division of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Stellenbosch, Francie van Zijl Drive, Tygerberg 7505, South Africa. Electronic address: rw1@sun.ac.za.
authors.forename: Robin Mark
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Warren
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa. Electronic address: Wolf-Dieter.Schubert@up.ac.za.
authors.forename: Wolf-Dieter
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: Schubert
authors.affiliation: DST/NRF Centre of Excellence in Biomedical Tuberculosis Research, US/MRC Centre for Molecular and Cellular Biology, Division of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Stellenbosch, Francie van Zijl Drive, Tygerberg 7505, South Africa. Electronic address: ngvp@sun.ac.za.
authors.forename: Nicolaas Claudius
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Gey van Pittius
mesh_terms: D000995:Antitubercular Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D019295:Computational Biology / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D015195:Drug Design; D023281:Genomics / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D058990:Molecular Targeted Therapy / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D040901:Proteomics / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D021281:Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship
chemical_list: D000995:Antitubercular Agents; D001426:Bacterial Proteins
keywords: Drug target; Mycobacterium tuberculosis; Structural genomics