Or maybe a protein will disappear entirely. According to Sherrier, her work has application not only directly in helping farmers reduce or eliminate the amount of nitrogen they use, but also in trying to puzzle out how legumes encourage this particular beneficial bacterial infection while discouraging other disease-causing bacteria. Anything they can learn from this process may help biologists discover how to protect against potential pathogens in another plant. If you check the fluid in the elbow, you might see that certain proteins disappear and new ones appear over time. Many diseases can be studied in this manner.
Pharmaceutical companies are really big into proteomics right now.
One question Sherrier often is asked is whether what she is learning may one day enable biologists to develop corn and other plants that, like legumes, can harness nitrogen from the atmosphere. Certainly, it's one reason that the U.S. Department of Agriculture promotes this type of research.