While gathered around on the museum floor, watching discoveries featured in Science Bulletins, a group of school kids at the American Museum of Natural History wanted to know how to be a scientist. I told them, the “formula” is simple: keep your eyes open for what is interesting, ask questions, look in every place possible for the answers and if you still have questions, use the scientific method to find answers. I then told them, simply follow that recipe and you are a scientist. Their eyes lit up.
It’s true that professional scientists must go through years of training, but non-professional (citizen, amateur) scientists follow that recipe as devoted hobbyists and have made significant advances to research. For example, in astronomy, amateur scientists have made a number of discoveries—take, 10-year old Kathryn Gray, who discovered a supernova ! Citizen scientists have also contributed to natural history fields like ornithology .
But……
Can citizens contribute to molecular biology, a notoriously lab-intensive field?
The answer is YES! Thanks to a protein-shape game called Fold-IT.
November’s American Museum of Natural History’s Human Bulletin covers the first major molecular biology contribution by citizen scientists playing the game Fold-It created by biochemists and computer scientists.
Gamers found a good working model for the shape (structure) of a protein that had been eluding scientists in the lab.
A little background— Each protein, made of a string(s) of molecules called amino acids has a specific shape that dictates how it operates or works . To identify its shape, scientists often use a combination of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) and X-ray chrystolography.
The methods can reveal the spatial arrangement of molecules, specifically atoms, in the protein and yield amazing results, like the structure of DNA! However, it is helpful to have an initial working model of the shape of the protein to help ease the pain of X-ray chrystolography. Fold-It is designed to provide that working model . How?
Proteins typically fold in a way that minimizes the amount of energy needed to hold its shape. Fold-IT uses a minimal energy algorithm called “The Rosetta Structure Prediction Methodology” to engage gamers’ cognitive skills (pattern recognition and puzzle-solving) in the quest for the lowest energy model. The model can then be used for X-ray chrystolography studies.
For the first time (to my knowledge), non-professional scientists have contributed to molecular research and even health research! In this case, the team found a logical shape for a protein in the Mason Pfizer Monkey Virus, a retrovirus that works a lot like HIV and other retroviruses. The structure they uncovered helps the X-ray chrystolography research and helps scientist land on the true protein structure. The protein is called a protease and affects the maturation of the virus. Understanding its shape can help us further understand the function of these proteases in general to design better drugs for blocking retroviral growth across viruses.
