Project Description

Based on current knowledge of cellular signaling networks, they are believed to be composed of protein complexes in distinct subcellular fractions. The task of functional proteomics is to know the members within the complexes and the nature in which they compose distinct complexes. Classical proteomic approaches, such as 2DE and MS, can address the problem of protein expression profiles and reveal the species of proteins that reside in distinct complexes. Further experiments, such as GST pull down and immunoblotting, are required to discover in which manner the proteins form the complexes in vivo. These experiments are time consuming and labor expensive. Bioinformatics has the feature of large scale and high through-put, which will bring light to the functional proteomics research laboratory. It provides a solution to holistically analyze protein-protein interactions, based on previously existing knowledge. The implementation of bioinformatics in proteomic research will help researchers to find the promising research directions and pose feasible hypotheses.