title: "Fuzziness" in the celular interactome: a historical perspective.
abstract: Some historical background is given for appreciating the impact of the empirical construct known as the cellular protein-protein interactome, which is a seemingly de novo entity that has arisen of late within the context of postgenomic systems biology. The approach here builds on a generalized principle of "fuzziness" in protein behavior, proposed by Tompa and Fuxreiter.(1) Recent controversies in the analysis and interpretation of the interactome studies are rationalized historically under the auspices of this concept. There is an extensive literature on protein-protein interactions, dating to the mid-1900s, which may help clarify the "fuzziness" in the interactome picture and, also, provide a basis for understanding the physiological importance of protein-protein interactions in vivo.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. welch@umbc.edu
authors.forename: G Rickey
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Welch
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D011485:Protein Binding; D025941:Protein Interaction Mapping / Q000266:history*; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D049490:Systems Biology
chemical_list: D011506:Proteins