Gene Ontology
What is ontology?
Ontology are the various functions that can be attributed to the protein a gene produces in defined terms. Ontology is broken down into three categories of function:
Molecular function: The functions of the proteins on a smaller scale at a molecular level including functions like binding and catalysis.
Biological function: Molecular events with a start and end that are essential for maintaining the life of a cell, tissue, organ or organism.
Cellular component: The areas that the protein affects a single cell, or the extracellular environment. These functions can be defined simply by stating the area affected, such as mitochondria or cell membrane.
Molecular function: The functions of the proteins on a smaller scale at a molecular level including functions like binding and catalysis.
Biological function: Molecular events with a start and end that are essential for maintaining the life of a cell, tissue, organ or organism.
Cellular component: The areas that the protein affects a single cell, or the extracellular environment. These functions can be defined simply by stating the area affected, such as mitochondria or cell membrane.
RASSF1A's Molecular Function
The molecular function of RASSF1A is binding and zinc ion binding [1]. This consistent with its role as a tumour suppressor gene and the domains of RASSF1A, in particular the C1 domain which is a zinc finger domain.
RASSF1A's Biological process
RASSF1A is involved in many processes relating to the cell cycle so it is important for all cells in the body. The processes included are cell cycle arrest, regulation of microtubule cytoskeleton organisation and Ras protein signal transduction. The Ras protein signalling is important as it helps define RASSF1A as a member of the Ras Association Domain family and the role Ras has in cell growth. Once activated (potentially by RASSF1A, still unsure of interaction) Ras activates other proteins important for cell growth. Mis-activation of the Ras protein will lead to unwanted cell growth which is cancer.
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RASSF1A's Cellular components
RASSF1A is annotated as being active in microtubule cytoskeleton, both in the nucleus and the cytoplasm. It was expected that RASSF1A would be located in the nucleus as a large part of the cell cycle takes place within the nucleus. However, it was surprising to find that active RASSF1A was found in the cytoplasm.
References
Gene Ontology - www.geneontology.org
AMIGO2 - http://amigo.geneontology.org/amigo/gene_product/UniProtKB:Q9NS23
AMIGO2 - http://amigo.geneontology.org/amigo/gene_product/UniProtKB:Q9NS23
This web page was produced as an assignment for Genetics 564, an undergraduate capstone course at UW-Madison.