Elsevier, Drug Discovery Today, 21(10), p. 1475-1482, 2005
DOI: 10.1016/s1359-6446(05)03621-4
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Every entirely sequenced genome reveals 100 s to 1000 s of protein sequences for which the only annotation available is 'hypothetical protein'. Thus, in the human genome and in the genomes of pathogenic agents there could be 1000 s of potential, unexplored drug targets. Computational prediction of protein function can play a role in studying these targets. We shall review the challenges, research approaches and recently developed tools in the field of computational function-prediction and we will discuss the ways these issues can change the process of drug discovery.