Feature: Quest for the human proteome

This feature appeared in the July/August 2010 issue of Australian Life Scientist. To subscribe to the magazine, go here.

Mapping the human genome, and its 21,000-odd protein-coding genes, was a mammoth undertaking, requiring a 10 year, multi-billion dollar, collaborative effort by teams from across the globe. Yet the Human Genome Project (HGP) was only the beginning.

The human genome is just the blueprint for the legions of proteins that are encoded by those genes, and it’s these proteins that are the business end of biology; if the genome is the plan, the proteins are the actual building blocks of life.

In Sydney in September, at the Human Proteome Organisation (HUPO) Annual World Congress, the next great undertaking in uncovering the foundations of human biology will begin, with the official launch of the Human Proteome Project (HPP).

It’s no accident that it will be launched in Sydney, says Professor Mark Baker, Chair of Proteomics at Macquarie University and co-chair of the HUPO 2010 committee. After years of discussions at various HUPO meetings, a consensus was reached that it was time to get a Human Proteome Project underway. “Then, of course, we realised we had come to the stage where we had to launch it officially,” he says.

“Because the word ‘proteome’ was defined here in Sydney, John Bergeron – who has been one of the leaders and is an ex-president of HUPO – thought it’d be great to launch it out of the birthplace of the proteome.”

It is hoped that the HPP will be a key stepping stone on the way to personalised medicine, says Professor Edouard Nice, who has a joint Monash University/Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research appointment in Melbourne. He is also co-chair of the HUPO 2010 meet. “The data that the Human Proteome Project will generate will be of significant assistance in being able do the types of analyses that will be required for personalised medicine,” he says.

“There are a number of diseases where improved early detection or surveillance will be greatly beneficial to the patient. A number of these diseases are heterogenous, so you have to tailor your treatment to the actual disease itself. The ability to rapidly analyse those criteria will be fundamental to advances in medical research and disease treatment.”

Human proteome

The ambitious goal of the HPP is to generate a comprehensive map of each of the 21,000 or so proteins that are encoded by the human genome. The plan isn’t just to identify each of these proteins, but to provide detailed information on their function, abundance, sub-cellular localisation as well as characterise their various interactions.

There are a lot of gaps to fill in this picture, despite well over a decade of research into proteomics. “As of now, 7000 to 8000 – or roughly one-third – of the genes uncovered by the HGP are not linked in to any proteins, and of the remaining two-thirds, many lack detailed information beyond their mere existence,” says Pierre Legrain, Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique in France, and Secretary General of HUPO – a driving force behind the HPP.

• Share
  Share this article

  •  google+
  • facebookfacebook
  • slashdotslashdot
  • diggdigg
  • RedditReddit
  • stumbleuponstumbleupon
  • linkedinlinkedin
  • twittertwitter
• print
• email
• Bookmark