People power
Harnessing the wisdom – and money – of crowds has rocketed in popularity in recent years. Clare Sansom looks at whether chemistry can join the gang
Structural biologist Mariusz Jaskólski of Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland and his co-workers had a problem. They were trying to solve the crystal structure of a protease from the Mason-Pfizer monkey virus, which is closely related to HIV but is unique in that its protease crystallises as a monomer rather than the active dimer. Although they had obtained excellent x-ray diffraction data, none of the models available was close enough to be used as a template for molecular replacement. Success only came when the researchers challenged players of the computer game Foldit to generate models. Remarkably, it took a group of players only three weeks to produce several models that were good enough to solve the structure.