04/10/2017
Thanks to the 2017 Chemistry Nobel Laureates, we are able to visualize molecular structures that form life. Share this to congratulate them!
The 2017 Chemistry Laureates captured life in atomic detail.
Over the last few years, numerous astonishing structures of life’s molecular machinery have filled the scientific literature: Salmonella’s injection needle for attacking cells; proteins that confer resistance to chemotherapy and antibiotics; molecular complexes that govern circadian rhythms; light-capturing reaction complexes for photosynthesis and a pressure sensor of the type that allows us to hear. These are just a few examples of the hundreds of biomolecules that have now been imaged using cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM).
When researchers began to suspect that the Zika virus was causing the epidemic of brain-damaged newborns in Brazil, they turned to cryo-EM to visualise the virus. Over a few months, three-dimensional (3D) images of the virus at atomic resolution were generated and researchers could start searching for potential targets for pharmaceuticals.
Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank and Richard Henderson are awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2017 for their development of an effective method for generating three-dimensional images of the molecules of life. Using cryo-electron microscopy, researchers can now freeze biomolecules midmovement and portray them at atomic resolution.
Image: Over the last few years, researchers have published atomic structures of numerous complicated protein complexes. a. A protein complex that governs the circadian rhythm. b. A sensor of the type that reads pressure changes in the ear and allows us to hear. c. The Zika virus.
From popular information: goo.gl/36TUwC
