Beyond genomics

The added value obtained by combining genomic analysis with proteomic analysis and supplementary information on mechanisms of interaction has been well illustrated in a recent paper by Ideker et al. This gives a far more meaningful interpretation of metabolic responses to a mutation or change in environment than could be obtained from correlation of expression profiles alone, and it provides evidence that addition of metabolomics data would give even further gains. The results also hint at competition between mRNA molecules for translation, so that responses at the protein level are attenuated relative to changes in gene expression.