Proteomics in the Post-Genomic Era: Weighing in the Data

Ben Montpetit | Pages 9-12 | BioTeach Online Journal | Vol. 1 | Fall 2003

The post-genomics era – a time when genomes are being sequenced and released with fewer flourishes in each instance. Part of the reason for this is that the human genome has been completed, but a more significant reason is that there has been a realization that the genome provides a basis for evaluating what is possible, but does not provide the critical information about what “is” in a given organism, organ, tissue or cell. Genome sequences do not always provide a direct link to biological activity, since it is the complex interwoven pathways governed by proteins that are responsible for an organism’s phenotype. For this reason the genomic era will be partly responsible for the birth of the proteomics era.