International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry

Genomes, proteomes and bioinformatics*

D.L. Oxender, B. Moldover, and J.D. Cavalcoli.

Parke-Davis Pharmaceutical Res., Division of Warner-Lambert Co., Ann Arbor, MI 48105
E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: We are now facing an unprecidented flood of information as a result of complete genome sequencing projects. In the last year and a half the complete genome of the first eucaryote, saccharomyces cerevisiae, (14 Mb, 6,340 ORFs) has been added to the data base which already contains the complete genomes of a number of prokaryotes such as Haemophilus influenzae (1.8 Mb, 1,1743 ORFs), Mycoplasma genitalium, Methanococcus jannaschii (1,738 ORFs) and Escherichia coli (4285 ORFs). More ambitious projects are well underway such as C. elegans (ca. 20,000 ORFs) and the human genome project (3,000 Mb, ca. 50,000 ORFs). The next challenge after the post genome era is the assignment of function to the expressed genes which will help identify genes associated with disease processes. Powerful new technologies are being developed to map and quantify proteins expressed within a cell. Assignment of a phenotype for each gene as a result of systematic deletion of each ORF can be an important step in creating a gene-protein database. Bioinformatics is the scientific discipline that is essential for bringing proteome and genome analyses together. Proteome analysis by separation of complex mixtures of cellular proteins by 2-D electrophoresis is an important tool for creating the gene-protein data base. Protein identification has been greatly improved as a result of new techniques in mass spectrometry (MS). Two of these techniques are matrix assisted laser desorption and ionization (MALDI) and electrospray ionization (ESI). Using the new MS techniques it is possible to rapidly measure the masses of each of the proteins and the peptides that are generated by enzymatic digestion. A fingerprint of each protein from the 2-D analysis can now be used to identify the corresponding gene (ORF) in the data base. Several biotech corporations have been formed to take advantage of the genome-proteome technology.

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* Invited lecture presented at the International Conference on Bioversity and Bioresources: Conservation and Utilization, 23-37 November 1997, Phuket, Thailand.

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