FROM GENOME SEQUENCES TO PROTEIN FUNCTION

A major goal of genome sequencing projects is the complete description of the function of all proteins. For most proteins sequenced in genome projects, an experimentally determined function is not available. Fortunately, evolutionary relationships can be exploited to predict the function of many other proteins from their amino acid sequence. The techniques for such predictions, sequence analysis by computational and database methods, are becoming increasingly sophisticated and are now an essential part of genome analysis.