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 Andrew Jerabek |
| The decoding of the human genome has barely been completed but already scientists are delving into biology's next challenge: proteomics, the large-scale study of proteins. The goal is to understand the functions of the million or so proteins in the human body. With this knowledge, researchers say they can devise treatments to diagnose and eventually eliminate many diseases.
Mapping the human proteome is a monumental task. It will require hundreds of millions of dollars in investment and untold trillions of computations. The molecular contrasts tell the whole story: The human genome is made of dna--simple, linear molecules containing just four basic constituents. Proteins, on the other hand, are exquisitely complicated structures wrought from 20 different building blocks called amino acids. These molecules fold their hundreds of thousands of atoms into precise configurations that can perform specific cellular tasks--building cellular structures, for example, or charging into the bloodstream as disease-fighting antibodies. The natural origami underlying large proteins such as Factor VIII (left)--a common clotting factor in the blood--is so complex that scientists cannot yet predict the pattern, even with the help of the most powerful supercomputers. But solving the protein-folding mystery will yield insights into numerous diseases, including Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and mad cow. And the more they learn about proteins, the closer they come to curing killers such as breast cancer and diabetes. |