What's that gene (or protein)? Online resources for exploring functions of genes, transcripts, and proteins

James R. A. Hutchins, Doug Kellogg
2014 Molecular Biology of the Cell  
The genomic era has enabled research projects that use approaches including genome-scale screens, microarray analysis, next-generation sequencing, and mass spectrometry-based proteomics to discover genes and proteins involved in biological processes. Such methods generate data sets of gene, transcript, or protein hits that researchers wish to explore to understand their properties and functions and thus their possible roles in biological systems of interest. Recent years have seen a profusion
more » ... Internet-based resources to aid this process. This review takes the viewpoint of the curious biologist wishing to explore the properties of protein-coding genes and their products, identified using genome-based technologies. Ten key questions are asked about each hit, addressing functions, phenotypes, expression, evolutionary conservation, disease association, protein structure, interactors, posttranslational modifications, and inhibitors. Answers are provided by presenting the latest publicly available resources, together with methods for hit-specific and data set-wide information retrieval, suited to any genome-based analytical technique and experimental species.
doi:10.1091/mbc.e13-10-0602 pmid:24723265 pmcid:PMC3982986 fatcat:53kmvwius5dm5lekojvblip7ga