Prediction and evaluation of protein-protein interaction in keratinocyte differentiation

Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2008 Dec 12;377(2):662-667. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2008.10.051. Epub 2008 Oct 21.

Abstract

Terminal differentiation of skin keratinocytes is a vertically directed multi-step process that is tightly controlled by the sequential expression of a variety of genes. We previously investigated the gene expression profile and found that many of differentiation-related genes expressed in a temporally regulated manner. In this study, we attempted to find the hub-molecules and their intracellular signaling networks during keratinocyte differentiation using in silico analysis of data obtained from previous studies. We used protein-protein interaction prediction software called PSIMAP, and drew a hypothetical signaling network. We chose one candidate hub-molecule SHC1 that were predicted to link EGFR and MAPK signal, and then evaluated the protein-protein interactions experimentally. As predicted, SHC1 bound to the MEK1 in an EGF-regulated manner. Furthermore, SHC1 bound to the MEK1 and p38 MAPK in a keratinocyte differentiation dependent manner. These results demonstrate that in silico protein-protein interaction prediction system can be used to efficiently and cost-effectively select the experimental candidates.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Biotechnology
  • Cell Differentiation*
  • Computational Biology
  • Humans
  • Keratinocytes / cytology*
  • Keratinocytes / metabolism*
  • Protein Interaction Mapping / methods*
  • Proteins / metabolism*
  • Signal Transduction
  • Software*

Substances

  • Proteins