This web page was produced as an assignment for Genetics 677, an undergraduate course at UW-Madison.
Protein Network: STRING
Human GRIK2 protein network
The figure above and below (human GRIK2's protein network and coordinate input/output) were retrieved with STRING online software. The central red circle labeled "ENSP00000358133" represents GRIK2 in this network.
10 functional partner proteins were predicted to co-occur with GRIK2. Some of these predicted proteins make logical sense in light of GRIK2's glutamate receptor function. "ENSP00000352780" is a glutamate receptor-interacting protein (GRIP); "GRIK4" is a glutamate receptor kainate 4 precursor, and "PRKAA1" is a AMP activated protein kinase catalytic subunit. Other predicted functional partners' roles with GRIK2 are unclear, such as "FOS", a proto-oncogene protein, and "KIF17", a kinesin-like motor protein.
It is likely that these proteins help the receptor function in some way. It is also possible that GRIK2 has functions yet undiscovered.
Mus musculus (mouse) protein network
The figure above and below (mouse GRIK2's protein network and coordinate input/output) were retrieved with STRING online software. The central red circle labeled "GRIK2" represents GRIK2 in this network.
Again, there are 10 predicted functional protein partners for mouse GRIK2. There are, however, many more logical functional partners in the mouse GRIK2 output. For example, 4 more GRIK proteins are considered functional partners: "GRIK4", "GRIK5", "GRIK1", and "GRIK3". "Fos" and "Kif17" are again included.
It is unclear why the predicted functional partners vary so widely between the mouse and human GRIK2, given an extremely similar protein homology. Perhaps the functional partners involved are extremely sensitive to even the slightest difference in nucleotide and protein composition. It is also possible that the role of GRIK2 varies between mouse and human, although my primary study cited on my In the Literature page provides evidence to the contrary.
Occurrence View: Functional Partners are often similarly conserved
The figure above was retrieved using STRING and the mouse protein network. The conservation of proteins among the major model organisms for GRIK2, the human, mouse, and rat, highlight the importance of using these species for further investigation into the protein-protein interactions of GRIK2. At this point, this information is largely unknown. Yet because all of these proteins indicated by STRING's protein network output seem to be highly conserved among these species, we can learn much with increased confidence in the extrapolation of our discoveries to human beings.
Databases used:
Ashley Bateman, [email protected], last updated 5/13/09
http://www.gen677.weebly.com
