Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Possible universal code of protein structure

A new study finds there may be a universal code to predict protein structure, which could help to determine why certain mutations cause disease and how to fix them. As the article explains, the human genetic code is a like a prescription for making proteins. Our cells follow this code to make individual protein molecules, which then fold up into 3D structures to carry out their function. Gevorg Gringoryan, the co-author of the study says "If we can predict the final 3D structures of proteins from their genetic sequence, we would be one step closer to understanding the cell on a molecular level and curing disease." The researchers believed that by breaking them up into fragments they called tertiary motifs or TERMs, they would be able to predict protein structures. As a result of their study researchers found that TERMs from natural proteins are reused by many unrelated proteins and from that information they can make models that connect sequence to structure. 

I found this article interesting because these findings suggest there is a possible universal code for protein sequence-structure relationships. The implications of understanding this code can be a great tool for determining how mutations cause disease and possibly ways to fix them. 



Primary Article can be found here

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