Functional classification of proteins based on protein interaction data

Deciphering gene/protein function for a better understanding of cell functioning and organism development is one of the main goals in biology. For this purpose, approaches have been designed following both methodological progress and thinking advancement. In this respect, computational methods played a constant role over time, evolving with the way biologists were apprehending gene/protein function. After a brief review of the more prominent bioinformatics methods and their implication in understanding gene/protein function, this article aims at explaining the importance of analyzing the protein–protein network with regard to the new vision of the cell functioning that it provides. In this respect, PRODISTIN, a computational method permitting the functional classification of proteins based on the analysis of the interaction network is presented along with the main conclusions it allowed us to reach.

Keywords: protein–protein interactions; network; graph analysis; cellular function; function prediction; functional classification