One of the major themes developed in Chem 406 is the relationship between structure and function for biological macromolelcules. In the last 30 years there has been an explosion in the in the number of structures of biological molecules that have been determined at the atomic level. A visit to the Protein Data Bank, a national repository for these structures, shows that as of October 24, 2006, there are just under 40,000 structures in the data base, and a look at the growth rate in the number of structures in the data base suggests that we are currently in the a log-phase stage of growth.
The area of biology called structural genomics has as one of its goals the complete description of a living cell at the molecular level. Instead of just studying the structures of individual molecule, researchers are now studying the strutures of molecules as they come together to carry out their biological function. This year's Nobel Prize in chemistry was given to Roger Kornberg in recognition of the contributions that he and his colleagues have made to this endeavor. Specifically, they have provided us with a detailed picture of the process of transcription in eukaryotes at the atomic level. Kornberg first spent years developing a cell-free system that allowed him to identify each of the components needed for transcription, he then was able to crystallize and determine the atomic structure of these components. As an illustration of how fast-paced this area of biology is proceding, Kornberg's structures have only been published over the past 6 years; not much longer than most of you have spent pursuing your bachelors degree.
- Click here to view an animation of the transcription process.
- To review what transcription is, click here to see Chapter 29 - RNA synthesis, from Stryer's Biochemistry, 6th Ed.
- Nobel Prize Committee's citation for this year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Assignment:
You are assigned the task of writing a web-based term termpaper that focusses on a description of transcription in eukaryotes. Your termpaper should include the following components:
- An overview of the transcription process
- A comparison of prokaryotic and eukaryotic transcription which is illustrated with 3-dimensional, interactive, molecular models.
- A detailed description of eukaryotic transcription which is illustrated with 3-dimensional, interactive, molecular models.
- A description of the effects of the deadly amanitin toxin from the poisonous Amanita phalloides mushroom which is illustrated with 3-dimensional, interactive, molecular models.
- A discussion of the contributions that Kornberg's work is expected to make to the area of stem-cell research.
- A discussion of the contributions that Kornberg's work is expected to make to another area biology of your choosing.
Your termpaper should be a scholarly review of the original literature. You may use sources such Chapter 29 from Stryer's Biochemistry to help you with accessing and organizing your sources, but the narative of your termpaper should cite the original literature and do this within the body of the narative. You should use hyperlinks to link your citations to the reference section of your termpaper. The references listed in the reference section of your termpaper should be linked to the PubMed entry for each reference. Your reference section should also list any PDB files that you used to create your 3-dimensional models. These references should be linked to their corresponding entry in the Protein Data Bank.
Resources:
- Protein Data Bank
- Narated Tutorial on how to use the Protein Databank
- Chapter 29 - RNA Synthesis and Processing, from Stryer's Biochemistry, 6th Ed.
- The NIH's National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) provides free online access to PubMed which you can use to do a key word search of the scientific literature.
- Science Citation Index: This extremely useful research tool allows you to find scientific articles which have cited a particular article of interest. For example, the PDB file for a protein provides the reference for the article in which a structure was first reported in the literature. You can use that citation in a Science Citation Index search for other articles that refer to this article.
- Journal Web Sites
- Biochemistry (full text available online and at McIntyre)
- Science Magazine (full text available online and at McIntyre)
- Cell (full text available online and at McIntyre)
- Nature (full text available online and at McIntyre)
- Nature, Structural and Molecular Biology (full text available online)
- Biophysical Journal (full text available online for articles published over a year ago)
- Journal of Biological Chemistry (McIntyre and full text available online for articles published over a year ago )
- Journal of Molecular Biology (abstracts online and full text available at McIntyre)
- PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, USA) (fultext available online or in McIntyre)
- Proteins: Structure, Function, and Genetics (abstracts online, order articles through Interlibrary Loan )
- Protein Science (full text available online)
- Structure
- Stryer's Biochemistry, 5th Ed.
- For articles that you cannot obtain online or in McIntyre Library, there is always Interlibrary Loan .
Due Date:
Wednesday, 8. December, 2006 - Submit the your complete site.