Structural genomics

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Structural genomics consists in the determination of the three dimensional structure of all proteins of a given organism, by experimental methods such as X-ray crystallography, NMR spectroscopy or computational approaches such as homology modelling.

As opposed to traditional structural biology, the determination of a protein structure through a structural genomics effort often (but not always) comes before anything is known regarding the protein function. This raises new challenges in structural bioinformatics, i.e. determining protein function from its 3D structure.

One of the important aspects of structural genomics is the emphasis on high throughput determination of protein structures. This is performed in dedicated centers of structural genomics.

While most structural biologists pursue structures of individual proteins or protein groups, specialists in structural genomics pursue structures of proteins on a genome wide scale. This implies large scale cloning, expression and purification. One main advantage of this approach is economy of scale. On the other hand, the scientific value of some resultant structures is at times questioned. An interesting Science article from January 2006 analyzes the structural genomics field.