Midwest Center for Structural Genomics

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The primary objective of the Midwest Center for Structural Genomics (MCSG) will be to apply its structure determination pipeline to collaboratively determine the structures of targets nominated by the PSI:Biology Network and the broader biology community. The MCSG will devote a smaller fraction of its effort to contribute, together with its PSl colleagues, to a broader coverage of protein fold space by targeting proteins whose structures would provide the greatest insight into the relationships between sequence and structure. Finally, the MCSG will continue to drive three scientific programs: proteins associated with virulence in human pathogens, proteins overrepresented and associated with disease in human microbiomes and proteins involved in signaling and transcription regulation - an area we are already pursuing in collaboration with leaders in the scientific community. As part of its mandate, the MCSG will also continue to develop and improve technology, and to refine rapid, highly integrated, and cost-effective methods for de novo structure determination by X-ray crystallography using high-performance beamlines at third-generation synchrotron X- ray sources. Our ultimate goal is to build, together with our PSl colleagues, a foundation for 21st century structural biology where the structures of virtually any protein or protein complex will be available to the biology community through the Protein Data Bank. MCSG will achieve these goals by implementing and refining rapid, highly integrated and cost effective methods for structure determination by X-ray crystallography at 3rd generation synchrotrons. We will continue development of advanced data management systems and databases that are vital to the primary mission. The MCSG established a structure determination platform that include: (1) classifying all available genomic sequences to establish a prioritized target set, (2) cloning, and expressing genes and gene fragments of microbial and eukaryotic origin, (3) purifying and crystallizing native and derivatized protein for X-ray crystallography, (4) collecting data and determining structures, (5) analyzing structures for fold and function assignment, and homology modeling of related proteins. The platform provides for rapid model validation and deposition in PDB. In PSI:Biology, these steps will be further advanced and integrated using LIMs and databases into a system capable of determining 200+ structures per year.