How can proteomics overhaul our understanding of Leishmania biology?

Paul W Denny, Karunakaran Kalesh

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

In the post-genomic era, genomic and transcriptomic techniques have significantly advanced our understanding of the fundamental genetic aspects of many human diseases. However, these techniques have a narrow scope in the study of cellular processes of disease mechanisms. For instance, gene- or transcript-based studies are totally blind to the profound implications of post-translational modifications (PTMs) in normal cellular physiology and in pathology. Events such as alternative splicing, somatic recombination, proteolytic cleavage, single amino acid polymorphisms and PTMs could lead to over 100 protein isoforms per gene [1]. More than 95% of currently known drug targets are proteins, of which about 55% are enzymes [2]. The functional expression of proteins in cells and tissues and the catalytic activity of enzymes are modulated by various molecular mechanisms that operate at the protein level – such as protein-protein interactions, co- and post-translational modifications and cellular localization, on which genomic and transcriptomic methods can provide very little to no information. As proteins serve as the work horses of the cell, proteomics, the large-scale study of proteins in an organism, has recently gained significant traction in the biological sciences as a powerful methodology for molecular-level characterization of the processes of life and disease development.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)789-792
Number of pages4
JournalExpert Review of Proteomics
Volume17
Issue number11-12
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 5 Feb 2021

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