Low-resolution structural approaches to study biomolecular assemblies

The delineation of the intricate network of biomolecular interactions is currently the focus of intense scientific effort. However, a complete understanding of these processes can be achieved only from three-dimensional structures of these interactions. High-resolution structural biology techniques, X-ray crystallography, and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) are still far from being of general application, thus highlighting the need for alternative methodologies that incorporate low-resolution structural information to model biomolecular assemblies. This overview describes the main sources of low-resolution data, i.e., NMR, cryo-electron microscopy, small angle X-ray scattering, and mass spectrometry, and examples are provided on how these data have been integrated into computational procedures. Special emphasis is given to the exploitation of the synergy of several low-resolution data obtained from differentmethods. Despite low-affinity complexes are a highly relevant family of biomolecular assemblies, their study is complicated by the presence of multiple species in solution. Examples are presented of how data measured for these complexes have been analyzed to obtain structurally valuable information. (C) 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. WIREs Comput Mol Sci 2011 1 283-297 DOI: 10.1002/wcms.15