BUSINESS OFFICE FEATURE:
Protein–Protein Interactions: A Delicate Touch
Alfred Doig
The notion of a cell membrane serving to contain a large mixture of proteins randomly moving about in a cytosol may once have been the grade school introduction to cellular biology. However, when one considers the nature and coordination of cellular activities, it becomes evident that random collisions between proteins could not result in the spatial and temporal reaction and information-carrying cascades now known to occur in cells. Proteins must interact in very specific ways in order to coordinate nearly all cellular processes including DNA replication and transcription, RNA splicing and translation, protein modification and secretion, cell cycle control and apoptosis as well as signal transduction and gene expression. Therefore, a disruption in the interaction of proteins is likely to contribute to the onset of disease and is the reason so much research effort is focused on understanding the nuances and implications of such interactions.
