One of their discoveries was a connection between proteins believed to be crucial for the synthesis of an enzyme that H. pylori needs to survive in our harshly acidic stomachs. They report their results in Nature 1 . They have found a very large number of interactions. Legrain's team admits that only further research will confirm the true biological significance of the interaction map, but they are confident that their technique will prove reliable - and versatile. The technique may also point the way to new drugs to combat H. pylori.
Many medicines have similar structures to the protein fragments studied.
Knowing how these fragments interact with key proteins in disease pathways could help make synthetic compounds capable of blocking them. Rain, J. et al. The protein-protein interaction map of Helicobacter pylori.