The molecular structure of proteins can be read now

Russian and foreign scientists have learned to read the molecular structure of proteins through the help of X-ray and molecular sulfur atoms, which will accelerate the search for drugs and explore the etiology of rare disease development. Scientists have published the article in the journal Science Advances, which also publishes other studies on recombinant human proteins.

"When I was involved in the first receptor protein structure assay, it took about a year to obtain large-size crystals for classical X-ray diffraction, and we hope that this approach, which is currently being developed, can speed up this work," said Wajim Cherezov from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.

Researchers from the University of Moscow at the University of Moscow and his University of Southern California studied the semi-helical receptor, the GCPR protein. For example, the GCPR protein plays an important role in visual, auditory, and other organ work and transmits signals from the external environment to the cells. Genetic damage associated with its work will lead to serious damage to cell life and cause serious consequences, including blindness.

To this end, scientists are actively studying the protein structure and try to understand their appearance in three-dimensional space. It is very difficult to do this - it is necessary to use astronomical time to calculate its structure on a computer or to separate the protein in pure form to freeze the protein and examine the protein with a strong X-ray laser. Such operations will take a lot of time and effort, which will slow down the GCPR protein research and search for the process of typical damage.

While the Moscow Institute of Physics and some American university scientists can simplify this task. They used free electrons with powerful X-ray lasers and special image processing methods. These images are based on the X-ray reflection and re-radiation patterns of common sulfur atoms in protein molecules.

In this way, Cherezov and his colleagues successfully recovered one of the GCPR proteins with a resolution of 0.25 nm A2A receptor structure and then increased the resolution by 0.19 nm, which is more than twice the diameter of the hydrogen atom. Scientists pointed out that high resolution can not only study the protein structure, but also can see the surrounding fat and water molecules and their interaction with the protein molecules.

Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology said that in the current 800 protein receptors, scientists only know 34 molecular structures. Scientists hope that Cherezov and his colleagues will be able to significantly speed up their research and help to create new and effective drugs for the treatment of large numbers of diseases. Flarebio offers high-quality recombinant proteins and antibodies such as PODXL Monoclonal Antibody.