Posts Tagged ‘science’

Understanding Proteomics And Its Biological Relevance

Wednesday, September 12th, 2012

Proteins form very important building blocks for all living organisms. These are used within the metabolic process within the cells of these living organisms. The scientific study of such components is called proteomics and this remains important in determining the normal functioning of the cells.

By 1997 this study had gained attention in comparison to the genomics. The latter was the study of the human genes which was also fascinating to the researchers. During this time the proteome was derived as a result of a modification process that was carried out on a set of proteins.

Genomics is comparatively less complex. The proteome is not distinct as is the case with the gene. The former varies from one cell to the other and also over time. On the other hand the gene is discrete for specific cell types.

Modification is normally a chemical procedure. Phosphorylation represents such a process involving the protein structures and particular enzymes. Normally this process activates other reactions that cause the protein to develop as a bonding target singled out by various other protein types.

The modification process has a number of approaches. Generally besides the phosphorylation procedure there is the ubiquitination. In order to accomplish this procedure a tiny protein type called ubiquitin is bound to another group of substrates. The E3 ubiquitin ligase enzyme is used to catalyze the process. Presently the number of singular protein types is in excess of twenty thousands coming to about twenty five thousands. This is the count in the human proteome. However with the use of other methods like RNA splicing this protein count is likely to rise beyond half a million types. Indeed while using the post translational modification the figure may even be higher slightly over one million.

One of the known ways of advancing this study is by developing an antibody for a particular protein under evaluation. Typically for sugar modification a process like the glycosylation of proteins is carried out where lectin is used in binding the sugar. The outcome from such procedures has resulted in unprecedented breakthroughs that have contributed to more effective drug formulations in the pharmaceutical field.

Proteomics makes use of various techniques that include microscale thermophoresis. Other methods include the traditional two hybrid analysis which is a yeast oriented procedure. Generally this study has a clearer result of the metabolic pathways in comparison to genomics. Generally the focus here is on the protein state at the time of the post translational modifications. This is intended to identify what proteins interact after the modification process. In this way the proteome can be developed.

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