Researchers at Johns Hopkins University and the Institute of Bioinformatics in Bangalore, India, created a database of more than 25,000 protein-protein interactions . It is the first large-scale analysis of protein interactions in human cells. This has helped in the scientists to identify new genes that cause genetic diseases.
This database is the most detailed human interactome developed so far and it reveals the interactions of proteins inside the cells when people are healthy or when they have disease.The researchers found that mutated genes encode a number of altered proteins which result in the inherited disorders. These proteins interact with proteins already known to cause similar disorders. The findings appear in the journal Nature Genetics.
Dr. Akhilesh Pandey, an assistant professor in the Institute of Genetic Medicine and the departments of biological chemistry, oncology and pathology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine said that genes are the basic blueprints for proteins, but proteins control all the activities in the human life. By this database one can identify the link between different sets of proteins involved in different genetic disorders. Hence this technique offers new hope in identifying different candidate genes involved in human diseases.
