[sourcery]

FYI

[Sabertooth]

((((((growl)))))

[gore3000]

With this new method for a thorough protein search, they were able to examine thousands of proteins individually

Very interesting research which should yield great benefits.

The article was pretty good too until it got to this part:

Nonetheless, the project was easily thorough enough to net some striking findings. For example, the research revealed that of the 4,200 yeast proteins scrutinized, a full 527 of them -- or about one in eight - work in the energy-converting organelle, the mitochondrion. O'Shea speculates that the mitochondrion may have such a large share of the proteins because, in addition to it vital energy conversion function, this organelle is believed to be derived from a separate organism - a bacterial parasite or pathogen that invaded our ancient ancestral cell.

This of course is ridiculous and totally false. No life can exist without energy and some form of ATP synthesis needs to be used for any cell to obtain that energy. This ATP synthesis takes different forms in different organisms such as plants which use chloroplasts instead of mitochondria, but they all required it from the beginning.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

We had a lecturer in proteomics in last week, but I had to miss it to conduct training classes. I'm falling behind again.

(As if I were ever caught up.)

[LiteKeeper]

YEC SPOTREP

[exDemMom]

The tag was a green florescent marker, attached to the gene in such a way that it was not likely to disrupt the gene's function. When the gene carried out its normal role, instructing the cell to make a specific protein, that protein glowed green, and could be located in the living cell using microscopy. Since each yeast strain had only one tagged protein, the researchers could pinpoint the location of nearly all of the organism's proteins by looking for the telltale green sign in each strain.

At the outset, they assumed that yeast contain about 6,200 proteins, since other scientists had identified that many genes in DNA, but through this and a second tagging approach, the researchers found that only about 5,500 of the suspected genes actually coded for proteins.

I am amazed. Unless one is actively working in the field, I doubt anyone can appreciate the magnitude of this work. And to tag each protein not just once, but again in a second strain of yeast... mind-boggling. I wonder how long it took, how many researchers were involved in the project, and exactly what approach they took in tagging each protein. (Of course, if I just go get the papers I could answer a couple of these questions right away.)

[aruanan]

Recognizing that it is the gene's products -- the proteins that interact to regulate all life processes, many researchers have begun to turn their attention from the roster of all the genes in an organism - the genome -- to the proteome.

This is good, because the genome is what the proteome uses to get its job done. The genome, which has before been called the master molecule of life, is entirely passive. Even its structural and informatic integrity is maintained by proteins.