Characterizing proteins of unknown function
A large fraction of prokaryotic and eukaryotic proteomes remains poorly characterised, despite widespread genome sequencing efforts, resulting in many proteins of unknown function (PUFs).
PUFs are increasingly recognised in biomedical contexts such as cancer and infectious disease, where they may underlie key biological mechanisms and serve as therapeutic targets.
Emerging integrative approaches now combine experimental and computational advances to investigate protein function across multiple biological scales, from individual proteins to complexes, networks, and transient assemblies.
Each biological scale poses distinct opportunities and challenges for annotation, which must be critically evaluated to support comprehensive characterisation of PUFs.
https://www.cell.com/trends/biochemical-sciences/fulltext/S0968-0004(25)00265-8
