Topic Introduction

Protein Microarrays: Flexible Tools for Scientific Innovation

  1. Heng Zhu1,2,5,6
  1. 1Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21287;
  2. 2The Center for High-Throughput Biology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21287;
  3. 3Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21287;
  4. 4Graduate Institute of Systems Biology and Bioinformatics, National Central University, Jhongli 32001, Taiwan;
  5. 5The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21287

    Abstract

    Protein microarrays have emerged as a powerful tool for the scientific community, and their greatest advantage lies in the fact that thousands of reactions can be performed in a parallel and unbiased manner. The first high-density protein microarray, dubbed the “yeast proteome array,” consisted of approximately 5800 full-length yeast proteins and was initially used to identify protein–lipid interactions. Further assays were subsequently developed to allow measurement of protein–DNA, protein–RNA, and protein–protein interactions, as well as four well-known posttranslational modifications: phosphorylation, acetylation, ubiquitylation, and SUMOylation. In this introduction, we describe the advent of high-density protein microarrays, as well as current methods for assessing a wide variety of protein interactions and posttranslational modifications.

    Footnotes

    • 6 Correspondence: heng.zhu{at}jhmi.edu

    No Related Web Pages
    | Table of Contents