Protein Interaction Maps  - PIMs

Many biological processes are controlled by networks of interacting proteins. These networks constitute the regulatory pathways that control cellular behavior; i.e., they determine whether a cell grows, divides, dies, differentiates, and how it communicates with other cells. Groups of interacting proteins also form the basis for the molecular machines which carry out fundamental processes such as DNA replication and transcription. An initial understanding of how most biological processes work, therefore, would be gained by knowing how the various proteins interact with each other. Over the past several years we have been developing two-hybrid technology to enable us to sample all possible binary interactions among large sets of proteins. We are currently using this technology to construct a map of the interactions among most of the ~14,000 proteins from the fruit fly, Drosophila. In another project we are mapping the interaction for a bacterial pathogen. The protein interaction maps (PIMs) that we are constructing will provide guides for further research into specific pathways and the functions of individual proteins.

Read background information about this project

View our Drosophila protein interactions database
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Find more information about the yeast two-hybrid system