On gene dosage balance in protein complexes: a comment on Semple JI, Vavouri T, Lehner B. A simple principle concerning the robustness of protein complex activity to changes in gene expression.
2009
Comment on Gene Dosage Balance in Protein Complexes
Commentary
Author Information
Author(s): Reiner A Veitia
Primary Institution: INSERM, U567, Institut Cochin, Paris, France
Hypothesis
The overall activity of a protein complex is generally robust to an increase, but not to a decrease in the expression of its subunits.
Conclusion
The study suggests that while some protein complexes can tolerate increased gene expression, many cannot, leading to potential fitness defects.
Supporting Evidence
- Genes that inhibit growth when underexpressed often encode subunits of protein complexes.
- Overexpression of certain subunits can disrupt protein complex assembly and function.
- Most subunits of protein complexes can be overexpressed with no observable phenotypic consequence.
Takeaway
This paper talks about how some proteins can handle more of their parts, but if you take away parts, it can cause problems.
Limitations
The commentary points out that existing data is incomplete and leaves some hypotheses untested.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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