Smith LM, Agar JN, Chamot-Rooke J, Danis PO, Ge Y, Loo JA, Paša-Tolić L, Tsybin YO, Kelleher NL. The Human Proteoform Project: Defining the human proteome.
Sci Adv 2021;
7:eabk0734. [PMID:
34767442 PMCID:
PMC8589312 DOI:
10.1126/sciadv.abk0734]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 88] [Impact Index Per Article: 29.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2021] [Accepted: 09/23/2021] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
Proteins are the primary effectors of function in biology, and thus, complete knowledge of their structure and properties is fundamental to deciphering function in basic and translational research. The chemical diversity of proteins is expressed in their many proteoforms, which result from combinations of genetic polymorphisms, RNA splice variants, and posttranslational modifications. This knowledge is foundational for the biological complexes and networks that control biology yet remains largely unknown. We propose here an ambitious initiative to define the human proteome, that is, to generate a definitive reference set of the proteoforms produced from the genome. Several examples of the power and importance of proteoform-level knowledge in disease-based research are presented along with a call for improved technologies in a two-pronged strategy to the Human Proteoform Project.
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