The human body may contain over two million proteins, encoded by 20,000-25,000 genes. Proteomics aims to characterize all proteins in the human body, with the Human Proteome Organization founded to pursue this goal. Proteins are made up of amino acids and can potentially cure every disease, but identifying them is a computational challenge. Proteins are of primary importance in the human body, with each section of genetic information coding for a corresponding protein.
It is estimated that the human body may contain over two million proteins, encoded by only 20,000 – 25,000 genes. The total number found in biological terran organisms is likely to exceed ten million, but no one knows for sure. Data is available on just over a million of them, drawn mostly from information found in the more than 100 genomes that have been fully sequenced.
The field that analyzes proteins in general and aims to comprehensively characterize all those present in the human body is called proteomics. Many see the next logical step after the completion of the Human Genome Project as the start of a Human Proteome Project. The Human Proteome Organization was founded to pursue this goal.
Proteins are long molecular chains made up of the 20 basic building blocks of life, amino acids. The longest known, titin, also known as connectin, contains 26,926 amino acids. Titin is found in muscles and contributes to their passive stiffness. Since the 20 amino acids can be linked in arbitrary sequences, the total space of possible proteins is exponential, with a value of about 2050,000, a huge number. Within this space there may be cures for every disease or ailment, but identifying them in such a vast number is a profound computational and theoretical challenge.
The word protein comes from the Greek prota, which means “of primary importance”. This is an apt name, as their central importance in the human body cannot be overstated. All biological organisms can basically be viewed as protein structures filled with water and sometimes supported by mineralized tissue called bones. For almost everyone, there’s another that can bring it down. Sometimes they combine into mutually cooperative units called complexes, which perform useful biological functions. Each section of useful genetic information, found in DNA and some RNAs, codes for a corresponding protein that is going to play a useful biological role.
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