Open Access Method

A catalog of human cDNA expression clones and its application to structural genomics

Konrad Büssow1,2*, Claudia Quedenau1,2, Volker Sievert1,2, Janett Tischer1,2, Christoph Scheich1,2, Harald Seitz1,2, Brigitte Hieke1,2, Frank H Niesen1,3, Frank Götz1,4, Ulrich Harttig1,5 and Hans Lehrach1,2

Author Affiliations

1 Protein Structure Factory, Heubnerweg 6, 14059 Berlin, Germany

2 Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Ihnestraße 73, 14195 Berlin, Germany

3 Institute of Medical Physics and Biophysics, Charité Medical School, Ziegelstraße 5/9, 10117 Berlin, Germany

4 Alpha Bioverfahrenstechnik GmbH, Heinrich-Hertz-Straße 1b, 14532 Kleinmachnow, Germany

5 RZPD German Resource Center for Genome Research GmbH, Heubnerweg 6, 14059 Berlin, Germany

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Genome Biology 2004, 5:R71 doi:10.1186/gb-2004-5-9-r71

Published: 17 August 2004

Abstract

We describe here a systematic approach to the identification of human proteins and protein fragments that can be expressed as soluble proteins in Escherichia coli. A cDNA expression library of 10,825 clones was screened by small-scale expression and purification and 2,746 clones were identified. Sequence and protein-expression data were entered into a public database. A set of 163 clones was selected for structural analysis and 17 proteins were prepared for crystallization, leading to three new structures.