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Assigning functions to genes—the main challenge of the post-genomics era

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Reviews of Physiology, Biochemistry and Pharmacology

Part of the book series: Reviews of Physiology, Biochemistry and Pharmacology ((REVIEWS,volume 159))

Abstract

Genome-sequencing projects yield enormous amounts of information that can lead to revolutions in our understanding of life and provide new platforms for the treatment of human diseases. However, DNA sequencing alone does not provide enough information to determine the molecular pathways of an organism in healthy and disease states. A huge number of gene products await functional characterization. Hence, there is a strong demand for technological solutions that help to assign the functions of proteins and genes. This review discusses high-throughput molecular biology methods, which promise to meet the challenges of the post-genomic era.

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Acknowledgements

The author would like to acknowledge members of his laboratory: Dominique Vanhecke, Anna Guerasimova, Andrea Fiebitz, Yu-Hui Hu, Jian-Ping Liu, Xi Cheng, Irina Girnus, and Sabine Thamm. The author also thanks the following organizations for support: the European Commission (integrated project MolTools) and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (grant no. 0313068, 01GS0416, 01GR0414, 31P3674).

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  1. Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Fabeckstrasse 60–62, 14195, Berlin, Germany

    M. Janitz

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Janitz, M. (2007). Assigning functions to genes—the main challenge of the post-genomics era. In: Amara, S., et al. Reviews of Physiology, Biochemistry and Pharmacology. Reviews of Physiology, Biochemistry and Pharmacology, vol 159. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/112_2007_0703

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