It is well known for years that the genomic sequence of a protein determines its three-dimensional structure. But until now, you needed experiments to discover this structure. Now, scientists from the University of Washington and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) in Seattle, are simply using computers to predict protein structures. This method works as well as experimental ones, or the third of the cases studied. It might look as a low percentage, but in fact, it is a remarkable achievement which opens a new way to discover how these biological machines, the proteins, are working, just by introducing a genomic sequence into a computer. Read more.
Sources: Howard Hughes Medical Institute news release, September 16, 2005; and various web sites
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