ho-lab @ Duke-NUS
Conventional gene annotation methods detect about 20,000 genes in the human genome and estimate that the proteome consist of 20,000 distinct proteins together with their unique variants. In recent years, the advent of ribosome profiling has provided evidence for significant translation outside of annotated protein-coding sequences (Ingolia et al., 2013, Science). A significant portion of these new proteins are smaller than 100 amino acids, encoded by small Open Reading Frames (ORFs) previously overlooked due to their small size. The emergence of sORF-encoded peptides (SEPs) or micropeptides is rapidly expanding the known proteome at the lower end of the size distribution. Our group is fascinated by the function of this hidden uncharacterized mini proteome. To systematically uncover SEPs, we have established a pipeline from proteogenomic discovery to functional characterization, employing computational and experimental approaches to assign definitive functions to SEPs. We currently focus on secreted and mitochondrial-localized peptides with a two-fold mission to :
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1) Uncover new paradigms in cell biology and physiology through SEP discovery and functionalization
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2) Improve cardiometabolic and immune health through the discovery and exploitation of SEPs
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