Biotechnology Demystified by Sharon Walker

Author:Sharon Walker
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Published: 2007-06-13T16:00:00+00:00

Research into Protein Type and Function

The phenome is the repertoire of all of the proteins in a cell. Attempts to describe the phenome of given cell types occupy a large amount of research. Even with modern computerized technology, characterizing the phenome is a laborious process and is unlikely to flag rare proteins. A goal of proteomics is to produce micro-arrays similar to what is available as cDNA chips. Remember that the DNA chip contains the genes of a given cell on a well-mapped matrix. The genes bound to the matrix are denatured such that only one strand of the double-stranded DNA is on the chip. The single strand will bind a complementary strand. You can link a label to the complementary strand and see the genes on the chip. However, there is no such thing as a complementary strand to a protein. The identification of the various proteins on the chip would require specific monoclonal antibodies against each and every protein that might be on the chip.

Determining the functions of the incredible myriad of proteins in the phenome is a big job, one that will occupy bioengineers for the foreseeable future. Historically, this has been done by comparing phenomes of mutant and normal cells and individuals, or analyzing biochemistry of individual proteins, and comparing the structure of proteins under investigation to that of proteins with known function. The emerging science of sequencing DNA has been helpful because genes for proteins of similar function tend to be located close to one another. In some cases, the genes are located together in more primitive animals and have drifted apart in more highly evolved species. The ability to turn off genes using antisense technology will reveal function by illustrating the effect of depriving the cell of said function. Antisense technology deactivates mRNA by providing strands of RNA complementary to the mRNA. The complementary strands bind to the single-stranded mRNA, preventing it from producing a protein. Large databases have been developed to aid in this type of analysis. Among these is a network of protein-protein interactions in yeast, developed by Schwikowski et al. (2000). Analysis of such networks can uncover function of uncharacterized proteins.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.