Inside Structures of Life

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Slide 1

Cover of Structures of Life publication.

Overview of structural biology
Student snapshots
Learning aids
- Glossary
- “Got It?” review questions

“… [offers] critical reading lessons to show students the real world applications of biology.” —High school teacher, Maryland

Slide 2

Table of contents of Structures of Life publication.

Read about
- The many roles of proteins
- Why protein shapes are important
- Tools used to study proteins
- How protein shapes affect the design of new medicines

Slide 3

Learn About

How proteins keep us alive and healthy
How faulty proteins can cause diseases

Proteins have many different functions in our bodies. By studying the structures of proteins, we are better able to understand how they function normally and how some proteins with abnormal shapes can cause disease.

Slide 4

Learn About

How protein shapes are being used to design new medicines
How protein shapes are teaching us about biology

Scientists have identified dozens of mutations (shown in red) that allow HIV protease to escape the effects of drugs. The protease molecules in some drug-resistant HIV strains have two or three such mutations. The structure of RNA polymerase (blues and greens) shows how it reads DNA (peach) and makes a complementary strand of RNA (pink). Image courtesy of David S. Goodsell, The Scripps Research Institute (for the RCSB Protein Data Bank's Molecule of the Month).