This means we know the shape of only 0.000015% of what nature offers, and this doesn’t take into account all possible mutations either. So far, x-ray crystallography, along with other experimental methods has allowed us to determine the structure of 150,000 proteins, bearing in mind that the total number is estimated to be around 10¹². This method relies on changing the protein to solid crystal and capturing every single scatter view to determine the position of each atom. The common experimental method for this is x-ray crystallography, which can be done in a few months (if the researcher is lucky, or years if they aren’t). The process of protein folding is ruled by the laws of physics, and the only way scientists had to demonstrate it relied on complex techniques that come with a set of constraints. This knowledge is key to understanding main cellular functions, from division to immune response.Ĭurrent methods are complex and time-consuming One of these important pieces of information is how they fold, the space they fill and how they move and interact with their environment. Considering that each protein can have between 100 and 10,000,000 copies, our knowledge is still just a drop in the ocean.ĭue to their abundance, wide distribution and primordial role in cellular function, it’s important to gather as much information as we can about these structures. The human body contains somewhere between 80,000 and 400,000 different proteins – so many that we still ignore a lot about them. In fact, proteins are essential for almost every task, they are the building blocks of living organisms and the fact that they are so numerous reflects their importance. There are so many roles that protein can perform at organism level, and they do much more at cellular scale. They are the transport network that carries every single molecule to its final destination, they digest and assimilate food and they also defend us from viruses, bacteria and other attacks. Just think of proteins as what allows your body to move. It would take pages and pages to list all the functions proteins perform in our organism and all the processes in which they are involved. Beyond that, proteins are much more than what you eat. When you search for the word “protein”, the first results that appear are related to food, nutrition and diet.
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