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Asked by isabelle to Anouk, Chris, Judith, Leisha, Seyyed on 15 Jun 2012.
Question: what do you do with the information that you find out from the structure of proteins?
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Judith Sleeman answered on 15 Jun 2012:
Well…that depends on what is found out and what follow-up questions the scientists ask.
A couple of examples:
Drug design: if the protein is one from bacteria or viruses that they need and human cells don’t, then the structure can give clues to help design drugs that will destroy the protein or stop it from working. This would make life very difficult for the bacteria or viruses, but not hurt the patient.
Finding out about complicated structures in the cell: I work on part of the machinery that the cell uses for RNA splicing which is needed for genes to work (more on my profile!). Its called a snRNP (snurp!). Snurps are made up of an RNA molecule and lots of proteins, including a set of seven proteins called Sm proteins. About 12 years ago, the structure of two of these Sm proteins was worked out. From their size and shape, scientists were able to work out that they must form a ring, with the RNA from the snRNP going through the middle. A bit like a pipe-cleaner going through the hole in the middle of a doughnut. Sounds obscure? Well, the protein that puts the Sm proteins into that ring around the RNA is called Survival Motor Neurons (SMN). People with too little SMN have a type of motor neuron disease called Spinal Muscular Atrophy. In severe cases, this can mean that they die as babies. So we really need to understand as much as we can.
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Seyyed Shah answered on 16 Jun 2012:
Hello.
There are many things that can be done using the structure of proteins. As judith mentioned, we can design drugs (medicines) that can bind to the protein surface and change how it works. For example, a medicine could stop a bad protein from working. This is what happens when we use antibiotics or some cancer drugs. They stop certain proteins from working. If we know the protein structure, we know how certain drugs will fit on their surface. The drugs are normally small molecules.
There are a few other things we can learn from proteins:
(1) Some proteins contact other proteins and change their function. This happens a lot in the cells of our bodies. Interaction of different proteins is essential to control how different cells in the body work. Proteins will only contact other proteins with which they can fit. It is a little bit like a jigsaw puzzle. So, by knowing the shape of proteins and what kind of structure they have, we can judge which other proteins they will contact.
(2) Some proteins bind DNA and regulate the genes by switching them on or off. This too requires proteins to have a certain structure. Proteins can also bind to RNA.
(3) Scientists in the field of bioinformatics are using computers to predict what shape different proteins will take and which proteins could fit together. At the moment, a lot of work needs to be done to have accurate predictions. But, if we are able to do this then it will cause an explosion of new information about proteins and we will be able to study them much more easily and quickly.
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