Researchers crack code of 3-D structure in key metabolic protein

Using X-ray crystallography, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine led by structural biologist Joanne I. Yeh, Ph.D., have become the first to decipher the three-dimensional structure of a membrane-bound enzyme that plays a crucial role in glycerol metabolism – a discovery that could lead to important advances against obesity, diabetes and a potential host of other diseases. Their findings are reported in the March 4 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.