Higher-order modular regulation of the human proteome

Georg Kustatscher, Martina Hödl, Edward Rullmann, Piotr Grabowski, Emmanuel Fiagbedzi, Anja Groth, Juri Rappsilber

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

Operons are transcriptional modules that allow bacteria to adapt to environmental changes by coordinately expressing the relevant set of genes. In humans, biological pathways and their regulation are more complex. If and how human cells coordinate the expression of entire biological processes is unclear. Here, we capture 31 higher-order co-regulation modules, which we term progulons, by help of supervised machine-learning on proteomics data. Progulons consist of dozens to hundreds of proteins that together mediate core cellular functions. They are not restricted to physical interactions or co-localisation. Progulon abundance changes are primarily controlled at the level of protein synthesis and degradation. Implemented as a web app at www.proteomehd.net/progulonFinder, our approach enables the targeted search for progulons of specific cellular processes. We use it to identify a DNA replication progulon and reveal multiple new replication factors, validated by extensive phenotyping of siRNA-induced knockdowns. Progulons provide a new entry point into the molecular understanding of biological processes.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere9503
JournalMolecular Systems Biology
Volume19
Issue number5
Number of pages14
ISSN1744-4292
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023

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© 2023 The Authors. Published under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license.

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