Protein microarrays as a discovery tool for studying protein–protein interactions

Abstract

Exploring the function of the genome and the encoded proteins has emerged as a new and exciting challenge in the postgenomic era. Novel technologies come into view that promise to be valuable for the investigation not only of single proteins, but of entire protein networks. Protein microarrays are the innovative assay platform for highly parallel in vitro studies of protein–protein interactions. Due to their flexibility and multiplexing capacity, protein microarrays benefit basic research, diagnosis and biomedicine. This review provides an overview on the basic principles of protein microarrays and their potential to multiplex protein–protein interaction studies.

Keywords::

• cDNA library
• interaction
• protein chip
• protein domain
• protein microarray
• protein–protein
• recombinant protein

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Silke Argo, Andreas Buness, DKFZ Heidelberg, and the referees for their helpful comments on the review. The authors were supported by grant 01GR0101 of the National Genome Research Network, funded by the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF).