Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 11, 2026

Incorporating Target Protein Structure Flexibility and Dynamics in Computational Drug Discovery Using Ensemble-Based Docking Analysis
Published on: June 20, 2025
Structure-guided discovery of protein functions in plants
Jiarong Chen1,2,3, Yanlei Feng2, Yuchan Zhang1,2
1State Key Laboratory of Rice Biology and Breeding, College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
Protein structure analysis reveals new functions in plants. By comparing structures, researchers identified thousands of previously unknown plant protein functions, including a PEX8-like protein essential for peroxisome function.
Area of Science:
- Plant biology
- Structural biology
- Proteomics
Background:
- Protein structure is key for functional annotation, especially for distantly related proteins.
- Systematic, structure-based functional annotation is underdeveloped in plants, leaving many proteomes unannotated.
Purpose of the Study:
- To uncover unannotated protein functions in plants using structural data.
- To establish a systematic, structure-based functional annotation pipeline for plant proteomes.
Main Methods:
- Structural clustering of protein data from 17 angiosperms.
- Querying UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot using structural clusters to identify homologous proteins.
- Experimental validation of a PEX8-like protein cluster.
Main Results:
- Identified structural matches for thousands of plant protein clusters missed by sequence-based methods (BLAST).
- Uncovered potentially important functions for 120 well-conserved plant protein clusters.
- Confirmed functional complementation of yeast pex8 mutants by plant PEX8-like proteins.
Conclusions:
- Structural comparison is a powerful tool for discovering novel protein functions in plants.
- This approach significantly enhances functional annotation for plant proteomes.
- The findings pave the way for deeper understanding of plant biology and protein function.
Related Concept Videos
Structural Protein Function
Collagen, the most abundant protein in mammals, is found throughout the body. In connective tissue, such as skin, ligaments, and tendons, it provides tensile strength and elasticity. In bones and teeth, it mineralizes to...
Structural Protein Function
Protein and Protein Structure
A protein's shape is critical to its function. For example, an enzyme...
Fruit Development, Structure, and Function
Mechanical Protein Functions
Animal and Plant Cell Structure
Cell Division
Though both plant and animal cells divide by mitosis (for non-gametic cells) and meiosis (for gametic cells), they differ in the specifics of this process. Unlike animal cells, plant cells lack centrosomes — an organelle responsible for organizing the spindle fibers and segregating the chromosomes during...

