Overview of structural genomics: from structure to function

The unprecedented increase in the number of new protein sequences arising from genomics and proteomics highlights directly the need for methods to rapidly and reliably determine the molecular and cellular functions of these proteins. One such approach, structural genomics, aims to delineate the total repertoire of protein folds, thereby providing three-dimensional portraits for all proteins in a living organism and to infer molecular functions of the proteins. The goal of obtaining protein structures on a genomic scale has motivated the development of high-throughput technologies for macromolecular structure determination, which have begun to produce structures at a greater rate than previously possible. These new structures have revealed many unexpected functional and evolution relationships that were hidden at the sequence level.