Predicting subcellular localization of proteins using protein-protein interaction data

Abstract

The knowledge of subcellular localization of proteins can provide useful clues about their functions. The conventional methods to determine the subcellular localization are unable to keep pace with the rate at which the new data is being generated. Thus, though sequence information is available, the localization and function of a number of proteins remains unknown. In this study, we have developed a script that makes use of the physical interactors of a protein and their localization data to predict the subcellular localization. We used the script to predict the localization of yeast proteins for which there is no localization data. Further, we experimentally verified the predicted localization for six arbitrarily chosen proteins and found our predictions to be correct for five of the proteins.