Molecular visualization of cellular complexity. ...

• Main Authors: Wozny, Michael R, Kukulski, Wanda
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: University of Bern 2021
• Subjects: Sperm whale
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.48350/158330; https://boris-portal.unibe.ch/handle/20.500.12422/43070

Structural biology has paved the way for a ground-up description of biological systems, contributing atomic structures of proteins amenable to crystallography, uncovering high-resolution maps of ‘difficult’ proteins with the cryo-electron microscopy revolution, and filling knowledge gaps regarding dynamic and disordered proteins using nuclear magnetic resonance. From the very beginning, the cellular context of a protein of interest was considered; John Kendrew chose sperm whale myoglobin for crystallization because of myoglobin’s importance and abundance within the dark red tissues of diving animals and thereby solved the first three-dimensional protein structure1. Together, cell and structural biology work synergistically towards a common goal: to build a mechanistic description of biological systems. ...