Proteome

Proteome refers to the entire set of proteins that can be expressed by a genome, cell, tissue, or organism at a certain time. It is an entire collection of proteins, differing from the genome in that it varies with time and distinct requirements, or stresses, that a cell or organism undergoes.

Overview

Proteomics, the study of the proteome, has evolved from genomics and the successful sequencing of many species' genomes. For instance, the Human Genome Project provided the sequence of the three billion base pairs making up the human genome. Now, attention has turned to protein sets, or proteomes.

Proteome Complexity

The complexity of the proteome is vast. For instance, in humans, while the genome comprises of roughly 20,000 protein-coding genes, the proteome is estimated to contain between 250,000 to one million proteins. This complexity arises from various factors including alternative splicing, post-translational modifications, and protein degradation.

Proteomics

Proteomics, the large-scale study of proteomes, is a more complex field than genomics. This is mainly because while an organism's genome is more or less constant, the proteome differs from cell to cell and constantly changes through its biochemical interactions with the genome and the environment. One organism has radically different protein expression in different parts of its body, in different stages of its life cycle and in different environmental conditions.

See also

• Genome
• Human Genome Project
• Protein
• Gene expression
• Post-translational modification

References

Proteome Resources
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