Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Protein Data Bank

  The Protein Data Bank (PDB) is a repository for the 3-D structural data of large biological molecules, such as proteins and nucleic acids. The data, typically obtained by X-ray crystallography or NMR spectroscopy and submitted by biologists and biochemists from around the world, are freely accessible on the Internet via the websites of its member organisations (PDBe, PDBj, and RCSB). The PDB is overseen by an organization called the Worldwide Protein Data Bank, wwPDB.

  The PDB is a key resource in areas of structural biology, such as structural genomics. Most major scientific journals, and some funding agencies, such as the NIH in the USA, now require scientists to submit their structure data to the PDB. If the contents of the PDB are thought of as primary data, then there are hundreds of derived (i.e., secondary) databases that categorize the data differently. For example, both SCOP and CATH categorize structures according to type of structure and assumed evolutionary relations; GO categorize structures based on genes.[1]

Pictures shown below are the examples of protein structure.
                                         Subtilisin

  Subtilisin (serine endopeptidase) is a non-specific protease (a protein-digesting enzyme) initially obtained from Bacillus subtilis.
Subtilisins belong to subtilases, a group of serine proteases that initiate the nucleophilic attack on the peptide (amide) bond through a serine residue at the active site. They are physically and chemically well-characterized enzymes. Subtilisins typically have molecular weights of about 20,000 to 45,000 dalton. They can be obtained from soil bacteria, for example, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens. Subtilisins are secreted in large amounts from many Bacillus species.


                                         Prolyl Aminopeptidase
  Xaa-Pro aminopeptidase 1 is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the XPNPEP1 gene.[1]
X-prolyl aminopeptidase (EC 3.4.11.9) is a proline-specific metalloaminopeptidase that specifically catalyzes the removal of any unsubstituted N-terminal amino acid that is adjacent to a penultimate proline residue. Because of its specificity toward proline, it has been suggested that X-prolyl aminopeptidase is important in the maturation and degradation of peptide hormones, neuropeptides, and tachykinins, as well as in the digestion of otherwise resistant dietary protein fragments, thereby complementing the pancreatic peptidases. Deficiency of X-prolyl aminopeptidase results in excretion of large amounts of imino-oligopeptides in urine (Blau et al., 1988).[supplied by OMIM][1]
                                         Lex A Repressor

  Repressor LexA or LexA is a repressor enzyme (EC 3.4.21.88) that represses SOS response genes coding for DNA polymerases required for repairing DNA damage. LexA is intimately linked to RecA in the biochemical cycle of DNA damage and repair. RecA binds to DNA-bound LexA causing LexA to cleave itself in a process called autoproteolysis.
DNA damage can be inflicted by the action of antibiotics. Bacteria require topoisomerases such as DNA gyrase or topoisomerase IV for DNA replication. Antibiotics such as ciprofloxacin are able to prevent the action of these molecules by attaching themselves to the gyrase - DNA complex. This is counteracted by the polymerase repair molecules from the SOS response. Unfortunately the action is partly counterproductive because ciprofloxacin is also involved in the synthetic pathway to RecA type molecules which means that the bacteria responds to an antibiotic by starting to produce more repair proteins. These repair proteins can lead to eventual benevolent mutations which can render the bacteria resistant to ciprofloxacin.


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