Abstract:
Segmentally duplicated regions are stretches of DNA in the human genome that
have been copied several times. They are said to be the driving force of evolution.
Because of this, it is important to study the different proteins that are coded in
these regions and elucidate their interaction with other proteins. Protein-protein
interactions are integral to the cellular mechanisms that govern the biological
processes of the human body. In this study, proteins of human segmentally
duplicated regions were retrieved from the Human Genome Segmental
Duplication Database. Twenty-three (23) proteins were obtained and were
individually inputted in Human Protein Reference Database and BioGPS to
retrieve protein information and their interactions. Proteins obtained are of the
following molecular classes: phototransferase, nucleotidyltransferase,
myristoyltransferase, G-protein coupled receptor, transcription factor and
neuropeptide. Some of the proteins however are unclassified and their functions
are still unknown. Cytoscape was used to manually construct a network in order
to visualize the protein-protein interactions. Proteins interact with each other to
efficiently carry out their function. Most of the proteins found in the human
segmentally duplicated regions are also found in lower life forms but some exhibit
different specific functions and differ in areas where they are localized. Most of
the proteins also are highly conserved throughout evolution and some are
products of duplication events, consistent with the fact that they are found in the
segmentally duplicated regions. Several proteins are also found to have been
involved in the development of the brain during evolution.
