The Discovery of Human Peptide Encoding Genes

描述(申请人提供)：本申请描述了一种新的方法，用于发现非注释短开放阅读框编码的多肽和小蛋白(SEP)，这是人类基因组中一类独特的未被研究的多肽。将这种方法应用于人类白血病细胞系，发现存在32个新的人类SEP，这是迄今报道的最大数量。由于SEP是由基因组中的短开放阅读框架(SORF)产生的，这一发现也代表了32个新的人类基因的特征。对产生sORF的SEP的分析揭示了哺乳动物基因的一些有趣的特征，例如多顺反子基因的存在，使用非ATG起始密码子来产生蛋白质，以及发现一些“非编码RNA”被错误地分配，因为它们实际上编码多肽。同样，一些SEP具有蛋白质中典型的特征，例如定位到特定的亚细胞间隔并参与蛋白质-蛋白质相互作用的能力，这表明它们可能在细胞中发挥功能作用。例如，这些新发现的SEP中的一个，与已知的癌细胞增殖调节因子在特定的蛋白质-蛋白质相互作用中合作，从而提示 这种SEP在细胞生长中的潜在功能。这些SEP的发现意义重大，因为它们表明基因组和蛋白质组比之前预期的要大，并表明需要对这些独特的人类基因进行进一步的研究。该应用程序的目标是发现、表征和探索SEPS的生物学，包括在疾病中的任何作用。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application describes a novel approach for the discovery of non-annotated short open reading frame encoded peptides and small proteins (SEPs), a unique class of understudied peptides in the human genome. Application of this approach to a human leukemia cell line revealed the existence of 32 novel human SEPs, the largest number ever reported. Since SEPs are produced from short open reading frames (sORFs) in the genome this discovery also represents the characterization of 32 new human genes. Analysis of the SEP producing sORFs revealed a number of interesting features about mammalian genes,such as the existence of polycistronic genes, the use of non-ATG start codons to produce protein, and the discovery that some "non- coding RNAs" have been mistakenly assigned because they actually encode peptides. Likewise, some of the SEPs have features typically found in proteins, such as the ability to localize to specific subcellular compartments and partake in protein-protein interactions, which indicates that they may serve functional roles in the cell. One of these newly discovered SEPs, for instance, partners in a specific protein-protein interaction with a known regulator of cancer cell proliferation to suggest a potential function for this SEP in cell growth.The discovery of these SEPs are significant because they indicate that genome and proteome are larger than previously anticipated and demonstrate the need for additional investigation of these unique human genes. The goals of this application are to discover, characterize, and explore the biology, including any role in disease, of SEPs.