Structural Biology and Functional Genomics [antikvár]

PREFACE A NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) on "Structural Biology and Functional Genomics" was held from May 4th to 8th 1998 at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), Trieste, Italy. 65 scientists from 17 countries attended (Bulgaria, Canada. Croatia, Czech Republic, Francé, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Russia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States.) Biomedical research will be revolutionized by the current efforts to sequence the humán genome and the genomes of model organisms. A notable finding from the already completed genome sequences of microbes and lower eukaryotes is that about 50% of all the genes code for proteins of unknown functions. A major challenge to the biomedical community will be to determine the functions of these unknown proteins and the roles they play in the multitude of life processes. This is the emerging field of functional genomics. The difficulty of assigning functions to unknown proteins cannot be overestimated. It will be necessary to identify all the components of conserved protein and protein/nucleic acid complexes. An unknown protein found in these complexes can then be labeled with a probable function. In parallel with functional genomics the objectives of structural genomics will be to determine by sychrotron radiation and multidimensional nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy high resolution structures of unknown proteins, of conserved protein complexes and of different classes of proteins e.g. all the proteins in a microbe, all the proteins involved in a biological pathway etc. This protein structure initiative will provide the structural basis for understanding biological function. Because of the very large numbers of unknown proteins high throughput capabilities will have to be developed for protein purification, characterization and crystallization. Fortunately the timely availability of highly collimated very bright synchrotron radiation beams allow the structures of proteins and their complexes even when in small crystals to be determined.