This web page was produced as an assignment for Genetics 677, an undergraduate course at UW-Madison.
Protein interaction network for BTBD9
It is absolutely essential that proteins interact with other proteins in order to have functioning organisms. Protein folding allows proteins to specify which proteins can bind, as not all will fit within the fold. As I've described the structures of the BTBD9 protein domains and the gene ontology of protein binding and cell adhesion, it is very evident that the BTBD9 protein binds other proteins. This image is a protein interaction network for the protein BTBD9. It was generated using STRING 9.05, a database that uses genomic context, high throughput experiments, coexpression, and previous knowledge (from literature) to identify known and predicted protein interactions. Provided below is a brief description of the proteins most closely interacting with BTBD9. As you will note, the strings, which identify protein-protein interactions, are different colors. The colors represent how the interaction has been determined (for example, textmining, databases, experiments, etc.), multiple colors mean the interaction has been identified with multiple methods.
Analysis and discussion
According to this network, BTBD9 directly interacts with USP21, USP25, MEIS1, SKOR1, and COPS6. It is unsurprising that BTBD9 binds USP21 and USP25, ubiquitin proteins, as it was explained that the BTB and BACK domains are predicted to be involved with ubiquitination. MEIS1 and SKOR1 are involved with transcriptional regulation, also not a surprise as that was also a predicted function of the BTB and BACK domains. As you can tell by the numbers and colors of the strings, this network has not been fully investigated and will continue to grow as scientists carryout BTBD9 research. The proteins BTBD9 directly interacts with have only been determined by textmining, it would be nice to see these interactions determined by other, stronger methods.