Progress in the Whole Cell Project of A Model Organism, Thermus Thermophilus Hb8

A high-throughput, high-efficiency and low-cost platform based on Beckman-Coulter robotic system Biomek FX for structural genomics has been set up.Several projects of structural genomics are in processing.Now, the platform has a capacity to process more than 1000 genes/year for structural and functional analyses.B. Subtilis, a model ogranism for Gram-positive bacteria and S. Mutans, the primary pathogen of dental caries were selected as our main target sources.So far, more than 450 B. subtilis and 250 S. mutans proteins and some proteins from other sources were selected as targets for this platform, the selected targets are mainly related to important metabolism pathways, and/or of potential for drug design.Up to 2005 Jan., 20 protein structures from the selected targets were determined, among them, eight structures were determined ab-initio.The application of beamline at BSRF (Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facilities) and the OASIS-2004 program have been crucial components for the operation of our platform.The use of SAD (single-wavelength anomalous diffraction) phasing methods combined with direct methods in OASIS-2004 has increased the efficiency significantly, 5 out of 8 ab-initio determined structures have been solved this way.