Developing A Public Resource For Structural Biology And Cancer Pathway Plasmids

Understanding the structure and function of the genes involved in cancer is crucial to dissecting the underlying mechanisms of cancer development, progression and treatment. The Protein Structure Initiative:Biology-Materials Repository (MR; http://psimr.asu.edu) connects researchers with both the genetic raw materials and the structural knowledge to better understand the roles of individual genes in cancer pathways. As a centralized plasmid repository, the MR is responsible for sequence-verification, archival, and distribution of plasmids created by the high throughput structural genomics efforts of the Protein Structure Initiative (PSI). Plasmid annotations such as the full length sequence, vector information, and associated publications are stored in a freely available, searchable database called DNASU (http://dnasu.asu.edu). Each plasmid also links to external resources, including the PSI Structural Biology Knowledgebase (http://sbkb.org) facilitating cross-referencing of plasmids to additional protein annotations and experimental data. In addition to the 50,000 protein expression plasmids and empty vectors from the PSI, DNASU distributes over 151,000 plasmids including collections of human kinases, 1,000 breast cancer-related genes, over 10,000 human genes in several cloning and expression vectors, and over 800 glyco-enzyme plasmids that were created by or in collaboration with the MR, the ORFeome Collaboration, or individual laboratories. Furthermore, the MR strives to expedite and simplify plasmid requests through its expedited material transfer agreement (EP-MTA) network, where researchers from network institutions can order and receive PSI plasmids without institutional delays. By providing these plasmids to the research community, the MR is able to facilitate and accelerate the study of the biological function of proteins involved in cancer and whose structures have been solved by the PSI. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3973. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-3973