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Do you dig my groove?

Nature Genetics volume 23, pages 6–8 (1999)Cite this article

Finding functions for gene products using genomic sequence as a guide has proved more difficult than anticipated: almost half of the putative open reading frames (ORFs) of recently sequenced microbial genomes fall into the 'hypothetical' category (with respect to function; ref. 1). Many had hoped that the large inventory of proteins with known function would allow most new genes to be identified on the basis of homology. Not surprisingly, the sequence 'miners' are pulling out all stops in their quest to find clues to the function of ORFs. One approach is to identify binding partners with which polypeptide X might interact. After all, many proteins exist as heterooligomers or need to interact with other proteins in one way or other.

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Figure 1: Basis of the 'Rosetta Stone' approach.
Figure 2: The amount of new information provided by the 'Rosetta Stone' approach depends on how much is already known about the functions of the linked and/or unlinked genes.

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  1. Center for Molecular Genetics, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, 92093-0634, California, USA

    Russell F Doolittle

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  1. Russell F Doolittle
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Doolittle, R. Do you dig my groove?. Nat Genet 23, 6–8 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/12597

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