Current Experimental Methods for Characterizing Protein-Protein Interactions

Protein molecules often interact with other partner protein molecules in order to execute their vital functions in living organisms. Characterization of protein–protein interactions thus plays a central role in understanding the molecular mechanism of relevant protein molecules, elucidating the cellular processes and pathways relevant to health or disease for drug discovery, and charting large‐scale interaction networks in systems biology research. A whole spectrum of methods, based on biophysical, biochemical, or genetic principles, have been developed to detect the time, space, and functional relevance of protein–protein interactions at various degrees of affinity and specificity. This article presents an overview of these experimental methods, outlining the principles, strengths and limitations, and recent developments of each type of method. Protein–protein interactions play a central role in virtually all biological processes. A variety of experimental methods, based on either biophysical, biochemical, or genetic principles, have been developed for detecting protein–protein interactions. The results of these methods provide essential information for depicting the molecular mechanism of relevant protein molecules, the cellular pathways relevant to drug discovery, and large‐scale interaction networks in systems biology.