Proteomics, Genomics, and Molecular Biology: Key Concepts and Processes

The study of proteins, particularly their structures and functions.

Proteomics

The entire set of proteins expressed by an organism throughout its life cycle, or by a particular cell type under specific conditions.

Proteome

The study of all genes in an organism's genome.

Genomics

An international collaboration working to catalog all human proteins and determine their functions and interactions.

Human Proteome Organization (HUPO)

The process by which a single gene produces multiple different mRNA transcripts by including or excluding different exons.

Alternative splicing

Non-coding portions of a gene that are removed from mRNA before translation.

Introns

Coding portions of a gene that remain in mRNA and are translated into protein.

Exons

A posttranscriptional modification in which specific bases in an mRNA transcript are substituted, inserted, or deleted, changing the resulting protein.

RNA editing

Any change to a protein after it has been translated, such as phosphorylation, glycosylation, or cleavage.

Posttranslational modification

The cutting of a protein at specific domains after translation, which can activate or inactivate it and produce proteins of different sizes from the same gene.

Proteolytic cleavage

A process in which proteins are tagged with ubiquitin and degraded by cellular machinery called proteasomes.

Protein degradation (ubiquitin-proteasome system)

Cellular complexes that degrade tagged proteins as part of regulated protein turnover.

Proteasomes

A small protein that tags other proteins for degradation by proteasomes.

Ubiquitin

The covalent attachment of carbohydrates (sugars) to proteins, drastically changing how they behave, interact, and where they are directed in the cell or body.

Glycosylation

The addition of a phosphate group to a protein, often changing its activity by causing conformational changes.

Phosphorylation

Enzymes that add phosphate groups to proteins.

Kinases

Enzymes that remove phosphate groups from proteins.

Phosphatases

The principle that genetic information flows from DNA to RNA to protein.

Central dogma of molecular biology

The 13-year international research effort completed in 2001 that sequenced the human genome.

Human Genome Project

The physical characteristics of an organism determined by its genetic makeup and environment.

Phenotype

Changes in an organism's phenotypic characteristics that improve survival and are determined by a genetic component.

Adaptations

The process by which populations change over time as the environment selects organisms best suited to survive and reproduce.

Natural selection

Adding a 7-methyl guanosine cap and a poly-A tail to an mRNA to increase its stability and thus boost protein expression levels.

mRNA capping and polyadenylation