New EMBO Members Review
- The EMBO Journal (2002) 21, 1248 - 1254
- doi:10.1093/emboj/21.6.1248
There is a Corrigendum (May 2002) associated with this New EMBO Members Review.
Subject Category:
Addressing protein localization within the nucleus
Wendy A. Bickmore1 and Heidi G.E. Sutherland1
- MRC Human Genetics Unit, Crewe Road, Edinburgh EH4 2XU, UK
Correspondence to:
Wendy A. Bickmore, E-mail: W.Bickmore@hgu.mrc.ac.uk
Received 28 November 2001; Accepted 30 January 2002; Revised 28 January 2002
Abstract
Bridging the gap between the number of gene sequences in databases and the number of gene products that have been functionally characterized in any way is a major challenge for biology. A key characteristic of proteins, which can begin to elucidate their possible functions, is their subcellular location. A number of experimental approaches can reveal the subcellular localization of proteins in mammalian cells. However, genome databases now contain predicted sequences for a large number of potentially novel proteins that have yet to be studied in any way, let alone have their subcellular localization determined. Here we ask whether using bioinformatics tools to analyse the sequence of proteins whose subnuclear localizations have been determined can reveal characteristics or signatures that might allow us to predict localization for novel protein sequences.
Keywords:
- bioinformatics,
- nuclear organization,
- nucleus,
- protein sequence,
- protein structure
