Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Protein of the Year 2011
Congratulations to Ian Robertson and his protein hemagglutinin, the inaugural winners of the Jane Richardson Cup for the Protein of the Year!
Monday, May 16, 2011
magnets are coming!
If yours is here, you may be able to pick it up as early as Wednesday. Let me know if you'll be out of town by then.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Proteins you shouldn't miss: major histocompatibility complex
How can a protein function both as a "protector and a matchmaker"? Read Allison Sterling's page on major histocompatibility complex to learn more.
Proteins you shouldn't miss: DNA helicase
Visit the page by Amanda Erwood for DNA helicase. Ever wonder how DNA gets pried apart when it needs to be copied? Or how about when there is RNA to be made--how does the polymerase get in there? Look at this page to find out more.
Proteins you shouldn't miss: bifunctional enzyme
How many proteins contain two different enzymes, one of which makes a compound, and the other which breaks it down? (This may very well be the protein that inspired Stephen Wright's question of what would happen if you let a humidifier and dehumidifier duke it out in the same room.) How many proteins contain one form that is activated by one signal in muscle and inactivated by the same signal in liver?
To learn more, check out Alex Cortez's page on the bifunctional enzyme.
Proteins you shouldn't miss: malate synthase
Visit the page by Milton Herrold on malate synthase to see how it helps microorganisms as efficient as possible.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Proteins you shouldn't miss: choleratoxin
Though it was the year of the invasive protein, choleratoxin lost a close match to bacteriorhodopsin in the first round. Perhaps we were too calmed by its poppy-like appearance to take its venom seriously:
Check out Alyson de Walle's choleratoxin page to learn more.
Proteins you shouldn't miss: riboflavin synthase
Visit the page by Eric Prins for riboflavin synthase, a protein that faced an unfortunate early exit due to its match up with Final Four participant glutamine synthetase in the first round.
Riboflavin synthase, we hardly knew ye, and we are the poorer for it.
Friday, May 13, 2011
What's at stake
My fellow protein lovers, I present to you the Jane Richardson Cup:
The student's name and his or her winning structure will be displayed in the top medallion, and the names of the winner and the structure will be engraved on the base.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
The Final Four is set!
Congratulations to hemagglutinin, glutamine synthetase, anthrax toxin, and rubisco! More details on the contestants and the voting will be coming soon.
Monday, May 9, 2011
the Elite 8
On Wednesday we will have our Final Four!
Linus Pauling Regional:
Hemagglutinin vs. telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT)
Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin Regional:
luciferase vs. glutamine synthetase
Jane Richardson Regional:
Max Perutz Regional:
Na+/K+ pump vs. RuBisCO
updated bracket--Elite 8
We had yet another tie-breaker, and this one took a few hours to settle. Only 8 proteins remain--who will make it to the Final Four on Wednesday?
Friday, May 6, 2011
The Sweet 16
I wonder where I could use a "C" with these colors...
Linus Pauling Regional:
Hemagglutinin vs. IgG
telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) vs. triose phosphate isomerase
Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin Regional:
Fibrin vs. luciferase
dicer vs. glutamine synthetase
Jane Richardson Regional:
Anthrax toxin vs. neuraminidase
aquaporin vs. nitrogenase
Max Perutz Regional:
DNA ligase vs. RuBisCO
updated bracket--Sweet 16
Two match-ups went to overtime, and two others were decided by the slimmest of margins. Here is where we start seeing the tense contests!
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Round 2
Linus Pauling Regional:
telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) vs. calmodulin
triose phosphate isomerase vs. botulinum toxin
Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin Regional:
Fibrin vs. dystrophin
luciferase vs. DNA polymerase I
Light-induced protochlorophyllide reductase vs. dicer
Lysozyme vs. glutamine synthetase
Jane Richardson Regional:
Anthrax toxin vs. Divalent ion metal transporter (DMIT)
neuraminidase vs. antifreeze protein
Bacteriorhodopsin vs. nitrogenase
Max Perutz Regional:
Albumin vs. Na+/K+ pump
dipeptidyl peptidase vs. DNA ligase
Monday, May 2, 2011
Background information on the bracket namesakes
Linus Pauling won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in part for predicting the structures of α-helices and β-sheets. He won a second Nobel Prize in Peace for his work on nuclear disarmament. He was close to a third for the structure of DNA, but Watson and Crick beat him to it.
http://pauling.library.oregonstate.edu/
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1954/
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1962/
Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin was a pioneer in x-ray crystallography, and many of the early protein crystallographers credit her work as a forerunner for theirs. She solved the first structures of vitamin B12 and insulin, among other things. She won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry for this work in 1964
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1964/hodgkin-bio.html
Jane Richardson was trained as a philosopher and a physicist but soon turned to studies of protein structures. She developed a means of representing α-helices and β-sheets in tertiary structures that is now the standard for protein structures, and she has continued her work as a pioneer in protein structure study and representation. She is now a member of the National Academy of Sciences, among other awards. In honor of her beautiful illustrations that have become the standard for understanding structure/function relationships, the prize for Protein of the Year is named “The Jane Richardson Cup.”
http://kinemage.biochem.duke.edu/lab/richardson/richardson.php
Max Perutz is another giant in protein x-ray crystallography, having solved the initial structures of both oxy- and deoxyhemoglobin and proposing the Perutz mechanism by which hemoglobin switches between the R state and T state to bind and release oxygen. Along with John Kendrew, he received the Nobel Prize for his work in studying the structures of globular proteins.
Protein of the Year 2011: matchups with links
Linus Pauling Regional:
Hemagglutinin vs. malate synthase
β-secretase vs. phosphofructokinase-1
ubiquitin vs. telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT)
triose phosphate isomerase vs. actin
HIV-1 integrase vs. botulinum toxin
Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin Regional:
Fibrin vs. bifunctional enzyme
Xanthine oxidoreductase vs. dystrophin
Lactate dehydrogenase vs. luciferase
Cytochrome P450 vs. DNA polymerase I
Light-induced protochlorophyllide reductase vs. insulin
Riboflavin synthase vs. glutamine synthetase
Jane Richardson Regional:
Divalent ion metal transporter (DMIT) vs. major histocompatibility complex (MHC)
β-propeller vs. antifreeze protein
HIV-1 protease vs. cytochrome bc1
Bacteriorhodopsin vs. choleratoxin
Cadherin vs. nitrogenase
Max Perutz Regional:
Albumin vs. isocitrate dehydrogenase
Na+/K+ pump vs. thrombin
Inteins vs. NO synthase
Hemoglobin vs. methylmalonyl CoA mutase
Alcohol dehydrogenase vs. dipeptidyl peptidase
Mechanosensitive channel of small conductance (MscS) vs. kinesin
DNA helicase vs. RuBisCO
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