title: The small protein floodgates are opening; now the functional analysis begins.
abstract: Aside from a few serendipitous discoveries, small proteins of less than 50 amino acids in bacteria and 100 amino acids in eukaryotes were largely ignored due to challenges in their genetic and biochemical detection. However, with the ever-increasing availability of completed genome sequences and deep sequencing, which allows analysis of genome-wide ribosome occupancy, hundreds of small proteins are now being identified. This brings to the forefront the challenges and opportunities associated with the characterization of these proteins.See research article: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/15/946.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Biology, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda 20892-5132, MD, USA. ramamurthiks@mail.nih.gov.
authors.forename: Kumaran S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Ramamurthi
authors.forename: Gisela
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Storz
mesh_terms: D003580:Cytochromes / Q000235:genetics*; D045222:Electron Transport Chain Complex Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D010088:Oxidoreductases / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D003580:Cytochromes; D045222:Electron Transport Chain Complex Proteins; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D010088:Oxidoreductases