Structural genomics is the largest contributor of novel structural leverage.

TitleStructural genomics is the largest contributor of novel structural leverage.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2009
AuthorsNair, R, Liu, J, Soong, T-T, Acton, TB, Everett, JK, Kouranov, A, Fiser, A, Godzik, A, Jaroszewski, L, Orengo, C, Montelione, GT, Rost, B
JournalJ Struct Funct Genomics
Volume10
Issue2
Pagination181-91
Date Published2009 Apr
ISSN1570-0267
KeywordsComputational Biology, Databases, Protein, Genomics, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular, Protein Conformation, Proteins, Proteomics
Abstract

The Protein Structural Initiative (PSI) at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) is funding four large-scale centers for structural genomics (SG). These centers systematically target many large families without structural coverage, as well as very large families with inadequate structural coverage. Here, we report a few simple metrics that demonstrate how successfully these efforts optimize structural coverage: while the PSI-2 (2005-now) contributed more than 8% of all structures deposited into the PDB, it contributed over 20% of all novel structures (i.e. structures for protein sequences with no structural representative in the PDB on the date of deposition). The structural coverage of the protein universe represented by today's UniProt (v12.8) has increased linearly from 1992 to 2008; structural genomics has contributed significantly to the maintenance of this growth rate. Success in increasing novel leverage (defined in Liu et al. in Nat Biotechnol 25:849-851, 2007) has resulted from systematic targeting of large families. PSI's per structure contribution to novel leverage was over 4-fold higher than that for non-PSI structural biology efforts during the past 8 years. If the success of the PSI continues, it may just take another approximately15 years to cover most sequences in the current UniProt database.

DOI10.1007/s10969-008-9055-6
Alternate JournalJ. Struct. Funct. Genomics
PubMed ID19194785
PubMed Central IDPMC2705706
Grant ListU54-GM074958-01 / GM / NIGMS NIH HHS / United States