A research team at the University of Helsinki introduced an optimized and integrated interaction proteomics protocol (named MAC-tag technology). The protocol combines mass spectrometry and proximity-dependent biotin (BioID) identification to allow rapid identification of protein-protein interactions and more. Their study was published in Nature Protocols.
The technology developed allows an easy way to probe the molecular level localization of a protein of interest. The MAC-tag provides an experimentally proven integrated workflow for mapping in detail the physical and functional interactions and the molecular context of proteins.
Lead researcher Markku Varjosalo explains that “The MAC-tag technology stems from long-term efforts on developing new systems biology tools for systematically studying the molecular interactions of proteins.”
“The identification of protein-protein interactions and their changes in disease settings, such as cancer, has proven in our hands a powerful tool and has allowed us to find exact molecular mechanisms underlying these diseases,” Varjosalo adds. “In principle, our protocol can be used in so many different ways that we probably have not even envisioned half of them."