Review: Prediction of in vivo fates of proteins in the era of genomics andproteomics

Even after a nascent protein emerges from the ribosome, its fate is still c ontrolled by its own amino acid sequence information. Namely, it may be co- /posttranslationally modified (e.g., phosphorylated, N-/O-glycosylated, and lipidated); it may be inserted into the membrane, translocated to an organ elle, or secreted to the outside milieu; it may be processed for maturation or selective degradation; finally, its fragment may be presented on the ce ll surface as an antigen. Here, prediction methods of such protein fates fr om their amino acid sequences are reviewed. In many cases, artificial neura l network techniques have been effectively used. The prediction of in vivo fates of proteins will be useful for characterizing newly identified candid ate genes in a genome or for interpreting multiple spots in proteome analys es. (C) 2001 Academic Press.