Bioinformatics: Proteomics: Protein 3D structure

Bioinformatics: Proteomics: Protein 3D structure

As we all know the succession of amino acids in a protein sequence is what defines the protein structure, so the 3D structure of a protein sequence is a result of its amino acids succession, because for example, the Hydrophobic amino acids have no desire to interact with water, so they won't be on the surface, on the other hand the Hydrophylic amino acids or residues will appear on the surface to interact with water for example.

The protein 3D structure is not defined only by the previous properties but also the electric charge of amino acids, their interaction with their neighbors...etc

The man rule in the Structural Bioinformatics field is "similar sequences = similar shapes or 3D structures & similar shapes or 3D structures = similar sequences".

So the relationship will be like this:

Sequence ---> Structure ---> Function

The sequence identifies the structure which identifies the function.

The field that studies all of this is called Structural Bioinformatics.

We can identify the protein 3D structure by using 2 distinct methods:

1- The experimental: In the lab by doing an X-ray crystallography for example.
2- The theoretical: By predicting the structure from the sequence by using specialized bioinformatics tools.

Predictin protein 2D structure is now easy, but 3D structures still make an obstacle to Bioinformaticiens because of its complexity.

To read about protein databases you can read this article HERE.
To learn more about 3D structural databases you can read about PDB database HERE.

Any comments you're welcome.