Journal de protéomique et d'enzymologie

Characterization of Protein Complexes and Their Implication in Biological Processes

Mohamed Abu-Farha , Kazem Behbehani and Jehad Abu baker

In the post human genome era the focus has shifted to the field of proteomics. One focus of proteomic is the identification of proteinprotein interaction networks. In the past decade this approach has been applied to identify interactomes of many small organisms as well as humans. The mapping of these networks has proven useful and extending this approach to identify the human interactome will be pivotal to our understanding of proteins functions and their cellular and molecular role in diseases. Ultimately this understanding can be translated into effective drug discovery and disease therapy. However, the large number of proteins and their variants and the difficulty in manipulating these proteins poses a serious obstacle that needs to be over passed. In this article we will discuss the current state of the human interactome and the techniques used for mapping protein interaction networks and the possible ways to advance the mapping of the human interactome