Most researchers would agree that the Human is a more sophisticated and complex species than rice. The smaller number of genes in humans reinforces the importance of understanding the role of the potentially hundreds of thousands of different proteins produced by these genes, that are the foundation of all biochemical reactions. An understanding of how messages are received, communicated and sent along these molecular networks is fundamental to deciphering disease and development of effective diagnostics and pharmaceuticals. Proteomics Proteomics includes not only the identification and quantification of proteins, but also the determination of their localization, modifications, interactions, activities, and, ultimately, their biological function. The genome has provided copious amounts of digital data but the key now is in transforming it into information to enable a better understanding of the inner workings of the human cell.
Proteins are much more complicated than nucleic acids.
All of these possibilities result in a proteome with layers of complexity not discernible from observation of the genome itself. Protein protein interactions mediate the majority of cellular processes, identification of a protein's interacting partners is critical in understanding its function, placing it in a biochemical pathway, and thereby establishing its relationship to important disease processes. Pathway knowledge will have a profound impact on the understanding of protein function and consequently on defining drug targets and discovering novel therapeutics. The fundamental difference in the data obtained from these two technologies is that ProNet identifies the direct association between proteins whereas ProSpec allows the resolution of multi-protein complexes. Together, ProSpec and ProNet allow Myriad researchers to understand the formation of protein complexes and to generate a detailed map of the entire human proteome.