Structural genomics

From Free net encyclopedia

Structural genomics consists in the determination of the tridimensional structure of all proteins of a given organism, by experimental methods such as X-ray crystallography, NMR spectroscopy or computational approaches such as homology modelling.

As opposed to traditional structural biology, the determination of a protein structure through a structural genomics effort often comes before anything is known regarding the protein function. This raises new challenges in structural bioinformatics consisting in determining a protein function from its 3D structure.

One of the important aspects of structural genomics is the emphasis on high throughput determination of protein structures. This is performed in dedicated centers of structural genomics.

External links

Structural genomics centers

Genomics topics
Genome project | Glycomics | Human Genome Project | Proteomics | Structural genomics
Bioinformatics | Systems biology
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