Visualisation of the complexome.

Proteins and other molecules interact with each other to form macromolecular complexes, which are the functional units inside the cell. Together, these make up the complexome. To date, there are 4 large-scale datasets for protein complexes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. These were established by affinity purification and mass spectrometry. Of these, one featured protein sharing between complexes (Gavin et al.1). In this study, they proposed a ʻcore-module-attachmentʼ model. Core proteins are always present within a complex. Attachment proteins are single proteins that are sometimes but not always in a complex. Modules are groups of two or more strongly associated attachment proteins present in more than one complex. The aim of this study is to visualise the complexome as a network. This should provide a unique ʻhigh-levelʼ and biologically relevant view of the interactome.