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 that 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 othe; i.e., by mapping the interactome. Since the early 1990s we have been developing two-hybrid technology to enable us to sample all possible binary interactions among large sets of proteins (e.g., see Finley and Brent 1994 and list of papers). 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. 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

Find more information about the yeast two-hybrid system

 This project has beensupported in part by grants to the Finley lab from the National Institutes of Health, National Human Genome Research Institute (Grant Number HG01536) and by previous support from the Merck Genome Research Institute.

Finley lab, Center for Molecular Medicine & Genetics, Wayne State University School of Medicine

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