Bickmore Wendy A, Sutherland Heidi G E
MRC Human Genetics Unit, Crewe Road, Edinburgh EH4 2XU, UK.
EMBO J. 2002 Mar 15;21(6):1248-54. doi: 10.1093/emboj/21.6.1248.
Bridging the gap between the number of gene sequences in databases and the number of gene products that have been functionally characterized in any way is a major challenge for biology. A key characteristic of proteins, which can begin to elucidate their possible functions, is their subcellular location. A number of experimental approaches can reveal the subcellular localization of proteins in mammalian cells. However, genome databases now contain predicted sequences for a large number of potentially novel proteins that have yet to be studied in any way, let alone have their subcellular localization determined. Here we ask whether using bioinformatics tools to analyse the sequence of proteins whose subnuclear localizations have been determined can reveal characteristics or signatures that might allow us to predict localization for novel protein sequences.
弥合数据库中基因序列数量与以任何方式进行功能表征的基因产物数量之间的差距,是生物学面临的一项重大挑战。蛋白质的一个关键特征(这有助于阐明其可能的功能)是其亚细胞定位。许多实验方法可以揭示蛋白质在哺乳动物细胞中的亚细胞定位。然而,基因组数据库现在包含大量潜在新蛋白质的预测序列,这些蛋白质尚未以任何方式进行研究,更不用说确定其亚细胞定位了。在这里,我们探讨使用生物信息学工具分析已确定亚核定位的蛋白质序列,是否能够揭示一些特征或信号,从而使我们能够预测新蛋白质序列的定位。