The ORNL GTL Center for Molecular and Cellular Systems has developed a
powerful experimental capacity in bacterial proteomics: whole proteome
analysis for a variety of growth conditions, pull-down identification
of protein complexes, and knockouts of selected genes.
A major focus of this project is to place these capabilities into a systems
biology context, that is, to be able to ask and answer questions at a more
holistic level for the target bacterial organisms.
On the experimental side, the increasing volume of high-throughput data
requires a systematic picture of all available information to be
transformed into biological knowledge.
On the computational side, the development of novel algorithms requires
direct and interactive access to genome-wide experiments.
A systems biology framework for post-genomic microbiology is to be
developed using Rhodopseudomonas palustris as a model.
Specific goals include the creation of a comprehensive annotated
map of protein-protein interactions in R. palustris,
the development of a feedback loop between this map and ongoing pull-down
and whole proteome experiments, the integration of results from
mining expression arrays, and the incorporation of regulatory and
metabolic information.
