|
![]() |
|||||||
![]() |
Function from fusion | |||||||
Anton Enright and Christos Ouzounis of the European Bioinformatic Institute (Cambridge, UK), however, have turned this concept around (Genome Biol. 2001, 2, 17). The detection of gene fusions in one genome (defined as composite proteins), they write, allows the prediction of functional associations between homologous genes that remain separate in another genome (defined as component proteins). The researchers developed an algorithm that detects just such homology patterns between genes in various genomes, in the hopes of defining new interactions between otherwise disparate proteins, including those with unknown functions. The scientists applied their algorithm to the genomes of 24 organisms, sequentially comparing one genome to the other 23 and finding 7224 component proteins that identified with 2365 composite unique proteins, results that could be tested using functional genomics. A particular functional association that the algorithm predicted was between the yeast proteins MXR1, a peptide methionine sulfoxide reductase involved in antioxidative processes, and YCL033C, a protein of unknown function. Together, the proteins appear to be part of a process to protect the yeast from oxidative damage, which highlights this approachs utility for elucidating function. Thus, the algorithm should help researchers identify new proteinaceous partners within various organisms, thereby expanding the number of potential drug targets. |
||||||||
|