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Structural Genomics – When are Enough Structures Enough?
Author(s) -
Levitt Michael
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.24.1_supplement.lb234
Subject(s) - magic (telescope) , structural genomics , data science , politics , function (biology) , computer science , big data , universe , protein structure , biology , political science , data mining , physics , evolutionary biology , law , biochemistry , quantum mechanics , astrophysics
Deciding when protein structures have been solved in sufficient numbers to empower all of biology with structural information is difficult as it depends on so many factors that are scientific, statistical, political and sociological. Scientists need to estimate how big is the universe of all proteins sequences and also how function comes about from sequences and their combinations to decide if this the protein universe is indeed finite. Statisticians need to estimate the rate of progress being made by current levels of effort to estimate the likely dates and costs of any desired level of structural coverage. Politicians need to weigh the costs of these efforts against the costs of competing projects. Finally, social factor such as the interest of experimental biologist in protein structure need to be considered so as be able to maximize the use of the information. I will dare to dip into these murky waters but cannot promise a magic solution.