Posted on 04/26/2015 7:57:25 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Thanks for posting this.
I’m not smart enough in this regard to answer that.
This is pretty big news in the biz, but it appears to me that the significant thing isn't an algorithmic breakthrough but the realization that the one-molecule-thick cryo technique results in a consistent orientation that enables them to filter the data. That's really remarkable. BTT
Remember, all this happened by chance, with lots of time thrown in.
And don’t forget that these proteins can be Right-Handed or Left-Handed.
It must have been sorted out by those million monkeys on the typewriters...
Need I say /sarc?
Not really. We can already tell through biochemical means the functions of many of these proteins even though we have only a vague idea what the structure is. We have the technical ability to alter the human genome right now. What keeps us from doing that is the ethics of genetically engineering humans.
Many animals have been genetically engineered, usually because changing a function of a gene helps to illuminate what the unchanged gene does.
While I have personally thought that it might be advantageous to have fluorescent kids (you can't find your kid? Shine UV light and you'll see him immediately!), altering humans in meaningful ways is still probably not very feasible. We still do not understand enough about how the human body works to be able to make targeted changes. For instance, we do not understand the complex genetic profiles of intelligence, so how can we engineer "super" humans?
Being able to elucidate more protein structures faster is a big step forward, but it won't lead to Brave New World.
You are wrong —DNA is transcribed to RNA, which is translated into Protein. Proteins comprise biochemical signals (like hormones) and form structures and substructures.
If DNA is like playing chopsticks on a piano, then protein is jazz —it’s much more complex and the unknowns are much, much greater.
New drugs are generally proteins, and in order to understand their functionality before you (very expensively) create new ones, it’s nice to have a good idea of how they’ll fold and funciton in the body beforehand —you’ll save tons of money, that way.
So this new technique will provide researchers a faster, cheaper, more reliable way of visualizing those proteins. They’ll know earlier if the new protein they’re making is useful or promising in remedying some disease.
Ever wrap Chrismas presents with those curly ribbons you made by using a scissors blade to modify a strait ribbon into a super curly ribbon?
Proteins are like that, sometimes with strait regions, then later curling again. Each segment of the protein (amino acids) has a specific size and charge, and that’s what makes it pull in on itself, or push apart, at different locations.
I did miss your point —what was it?
Solving 3D protein structure has revolutionized drug discovery. Several of my potential drugs have been placed into the active sites of targeted enzymes and X-ray structures solved from the crystals grown. Any process that speeds this up will be a great leap forward.
Breakthrough Molecular 3D Printer Can Print Billions of Possible Compounds
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3268024/posts
If one of them happens to be THC I think I know where this is going. ;-)
“The logical consequence is fiddling with the human genome. Tell me I am wrong.”
Happy to oblige You are wrong.
The knowledge of the 3-D structure of a protein is not necessary to “fiddle with the human genome”.
What this will do, among other things, is allow design of more specific drugs.
It also could inform effective means for “fiddling with the human genome”, but generally that information is not needed.
Bookmark
I believe Huxley only asked for six. You can have a million if you wish, but it won't help ;)
Bookmark.
Very big subject here that can go shooting, spiraling and exploding in a fireworks of discussions.
The answer to your question is yes and no depending on what ring of the circus you are viewing and there are more than a few hundred rings to this circus.
My microbiology is a little dated but the elementary dogma (yes, I chose the word ‘dogma’) of cellular function is:
* DNA —> ‘transcribed’ —> RNA
* RNA —> ‘encodes’ —> Amino acid (AA) string in Golgi Apparatus
* AA String Bead —> ‘fold’ —> protein, enzyme, hormone
Ok, so far you can think of the DNA as the stored code, the RNA as the execution code, the Golgi Apparatus as the ‘factory cavern’, Amino Acids as building blocks of proteins, enzymes and hormones.
The terminology can throw newbies off but many of the same things are called different names. For example,
proteins = enzymes = hormones
because they are all 3D structures of amino acids; they just take different names because of the context.
And then there are different labels attached to the same object depending on where in the production line it is. For example, RNA is called messenger RNA or mRNA for short when it transits from the DNA complex to the Golgi factory and then is becomes tRNA at the Golgi because it was ‘edited’ by RNAi or interference RNA ... Whew! Etc. etc, etc,
But terminology helps communication to be precise.
For example, what’s the difference between a circus clown, a rodeo clown and Jon Stewart?
They are all clowns but they clown around in different settings, and the latter one is especially retarded in politics.
But to get an idea of the importance of knowing 3D protein structure, cures of certain prevalent forms of cancer can be realized by knowing precisely the 3D structure of certain proteins or enzymes or hormones.
For example, DNA is replicated to RNA by RNA Polymerase, what’s that? Well, it’s an enzyme, uh... protein, uh whatever. It’s a 3D structure of amino acids that is uniquely adapted to ‘strip off’ RNA that is bound on certain ‘regions’ of DNA and send it on as mRNA.
A picture here is worth a thousand words.
So why is a 3D Structure of RNA Polymerase important?
Very big question with forty or fifty different circus rings to watch.
Here’s one ring of interest: Some cancers are originated from too much or too little RNA being transcribed, called ‘over-expression’ or ‘under-expression’ (more words and terms). For example, Non-Hodgekins Lymphoma is marked by the over-expression of two genes. What’s a gene? Ok ok ok .... you can see that terminology is a huge part of microbiology and there a gazillion primers on the internet that will bring anyone up to speed on it. But look at the cell as a huge factory complex for making and assembling cars and trucks (proteins) and then shipping them off to the roads and freeways of the region where they are used for myriad purposes.
Knowing the 3D structure allows for small molecules known as drugs or biologics, etc. to attach to the ‘macromolecule’ or the Mother Ship and modify its structure or function. Think of dropping a Shelby Mustang Engine into a Fiat. Uh, .... no, don’t think of that. But you get the idea.
Another key thing to know about proteins = enzymes = hormones is that they may come out of the cell as a bead string of magnets with different positions of their polarity lines. So what happens? THEY FOLD!!! THEY GLOB UP! Little magnets go Click! Click! Click! Bam! Bam! Bam! And the result is a very tightly bound glob of magnetic mess.
Why is a knowledge of the GLOB important?
Because it just so happens that all these globs of amino acid magnets have a ‘pocket’ that is constantly in contact with other structures that may or may not ‘fill its pocket’ and activate it or neutralize it. This is known as protein function and is very important to everything. Proteins are born incomplete and function to become complete.
And this ‘incompleteness to completeness’ brings us to the grand mystery of women.
Uh, ... let’s not go there.
But it’s true, humans reflect a grand version of what goes on in the microbiology. Yep, this is part of God’s creation.
So parents, tell your sons to study microbiology before they get married. It might just extend their lifetime.
I didn’t read all your post, pressed on time, but you are wrong about the Golgi.
The ribosome translates the mRNA in to protein. And using dogma is fine, Francis Crick coined the term Central Dogma for
DNA —> RNA —> Protein
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