Interactome

As interactome [ ɪntɐʔakto ː m, ɪntərakto ː m] the entire network of molecular interactions in the cell is called. Often, the term is restricted to the interactions between proteins. The still young discipline of biological research of Interaktomen means Interaktomik ( Interactomics ). The size of the interactome has also been proposed as a measure of the complexity of the organism.

History

Even after the complete sequencing of various genomes, including the human genome in the Human Genome Project, were many questions regarding open to the understanding of the functioning of organisms. As one of the next steps (see omics ) applies uncovering the interactions within the proteome. For example, the understanding of the complex protein -protein interactions in signal transduction pathways is an approach to therapy of various diseases such as cancer.

Particularly far advanced is the exploration of the interactome of the model organism baker's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae ), the proteome and interactome are known to a large extent. In humans, the level of knowledge in this respect is far lower: A, based on network analysis methods work by Stunpf et al. came to the estimated result that the human interactome contains approximately 650,000 protein interactions of which are known to currently less than 0.3 %. The authors also suggested that the size of the interactome network from a measure of the complexity of the organism. From the estimated values ​​follows that, in contrast to the genome ( the genome contains more carbon than the genes human, see genome # genome sizes) the interactome of people is much greater than that of other organisms which we would refer to as less complex. Thus, the size of the interactome could our intuitive understanding of complexity measure correspond better.

Methods for the Study of Interaktomen

There are several methods for the analysis of protein -protein interactions, including yeast two - hybrid system or TAP ( Tandem Affinity Purification ). However, many of the current techniques are still error-prone.

There are several databases for interactome networks, such as:

  • Reactome
  • Database of Interacting Protein ( DIP)
  • IntAct - The Molecular Interaction Database
  • PSIMAP
  • BIOGRID

Documents

Protein–protein interaction Digital Object Identifier Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
413943
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