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Prediction of protein interactions: metabolic enzymes are frequently involved in gene fusion

Nature Genetics volume 26, pages 141–142 (2000) Cite this article

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We have investigated the prediction of protein interactions through the analysis of domain fusion to assess whether metabolic enzymes have a higher participation in gene-fusion events compared with other proteins. We show here that known metabolic enzymes from Escherichia coli exhibit a threefold preference in participating in fusion events compared with control sets. This observation can be used in delineating the likely cellular role for proteins of unknown function detected by gene-fusion analysis.

Progress has been made in the computational prediction of protein interactions using gene-fusion analysis1,2,3. Using sets of multi-domain proteins (defined as ‘composites’), it is possible to identify their single-domain homologues (defined as ‘components’) in complete genome sequences3. This relationship indicates a strong functional association of the component proteins in the form of physical interaction, pathway involvement or generally similar cellular role4. The simplicity of the idea and its wide applicability provide a sound basis for an economical and rapid alternative to—or support for—biochemical experimentation.

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Figure 1: Species distribution of fused proteins homologous to E. coli enzymes.
Figure 2: Prevalence of E. coli enzymes in gene-fusion events.

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Acknowledgements

We thank A.J. Enright for technical advice and P.D. Karp for help and comments. This work was supported by the European Molecular Biology Laboratory and the TMR Programme of the European Commission DGXII (Science, Research and Development). C.A.O. acknowledges further support by the Medical Research Council (UK) and IBM Research.

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  1. Computational Genomics Group, Research Programme, The European Bioinformatics Institute, EMBL Cambridge Outstation, Cambridge, UK

    Sophia Tsoka & Christos A. Ouzounis

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  1. Sophia Tsoka
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  2. Christos A. Ouzounis
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Correspondence to Christos A. Ouzounis.

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Tsoka, S., Ouzounis, C. Prediction of protein interactions: metabolic enzymes are frequently involved in gene fusion. Nat Genet 26, 141–142 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/79847

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