Understanding the molecular machinery of genetics through 3D structures

Nat Rev Genet. 2008 Feb;9(2):141-51. doi: 10.1038/nrg2273.

Abstract

Detailed knowledge of the three-dimensional structures of biological molecules has had an enormous impact on all areas of biological science, including genetics, as structure can reveal the fine details of how molecules perform their biological functions. Here we consider how changes in protein sequence affect the corresponding 3D structure, and describe how structural information about proteins, DNA and chromatin has shed light on gene regulatory mechanisms and the storage and transmission of epigenetic information. Finally, we describe how structure determination is benefiting from the high-throughput technologies of the worldwide structural genomics projects.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Chromatin / chemistry
  • Databases, Protein
  • Epigenesis, Genetic / physiology
  • Evolution, Molecular
  • Gene Expression Regulation / physiology
  • Genomics / methods
  • Humans
  • Imaging, Three-Dimensional / methods*
  • Models, Molecular
  • Molecular Biology / methods*
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Mutagenesis, Insertional / physiology
  • Nucleic Acid Conformation
  • Point Mutation / physiology
  • Proteins / chemistry*
  • Proteins / genetics
  • Proteins / ultrastructure*
  • Sequence Deletion / physiology
  • Structure-Activity Relationship

Substances

  • Chromatin
  • Proteins

Associated data

  • PDB/1AAY
  • PDB/1AOI
  • PDB/1F66
  • PDB/1FOK
  • PDB/1GM1
  • PDB/1HIO
  • PDB/1KNA
  • PDB/1KNE
  • PDB/1OZI
  • PDB/1PFB
  • PDB/1RH8
  • PDB/1RJ7
  • PDB/1RJ8
  • PDB/1VJ6
  • PDB/1YSA
  • PDB/1ZBB
  • PDB/2FFL