The protein has occupied space to the gene

2001/01/11 Carton Virto, Eider - Elhuyar Zientzia

• Mikrobiologia

Although last year all the praises were received by genomes, the real important information is in the proteins, the molecules that encode the letters that form the genome. The knowledge of how proteins interact allows humans to acquire more effective weapons to fight certain diseases.

French researchers have drawn up the first map describing the interaction of proteins from a bacterium. The bacterium is Helicobacter pylori, frequent in the human intestine. There it produces ulcers.

The study was conducted by the team of Pierre Legrain of Hybrigenics, based in Paris, and has identified about 1,200 interactions between H. pylori proteins. Half of all the proteins of the bacteria are involved in these interactions. The study of protein interactions clarifies biological behaviors and helps the researcher predict what the protein will do. In this study, for example, H. pylori explains how it has infected so many people (half the world population).

As for H. pylori, this type of maps have been completed with yeasts and worms, but the research was done differently. Instead of using complete Hybrigenics proteins, protein fragments have been used to analyze interactions, obtaining much more information.

However, all the data must be carefully analyzed, since the interactions are not real, since the proteins have been investigated outside the natural environment. The Legrain team has recognized that more research is necessary to confirm what they themselves have found, but is convinced of the validity of the technique. It can also be applied to more intense techniques.