The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 23, 1997
Filed:
Jun. 07, 1995
Jack L Leonard, Shrewsbury, MA (US);
Peter E Newburger, Waban, MA (US);
University of Masachusetts Medical Center, Worcester, MA (US);
Abstract
The invention provides methods for determining the structure of a polypeptide by a) transfecting a cell with (i) a first nucleic acid encoding the polypeptide, wherein at least one, specific codon of mRNA transcribed from the first nucleic acid is replaced by the codon UGA, and (ii) a second nucleic acid, operably linked to the first nucleic acid, that directs the translation of the UGA codon as selenocysteine only when the cell can obtain selenium from the medium in which it is grown; b) growing the cell in selenium-containing growth medium under conditions in which the cell incorporates at least one selenocysteine residue into the polypeptide at a specific location; c) isolating the polypeptide from the cell or the growth medium; d) forming a crystal of the polypeptide; and e) performing X-ray crystallography on the crystal, wherein the selenocysteine residue is used to determine the structure of the polypeptide.