"Complementation: the protein-protein interaction theory"

Date:
1960
Reference:
PP/CRI/H/2/42/2
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: "Complementation: the protein-protein interaction theory". Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    INTRODUCTION Consider a particular gene which controls the production of a particular enzyme. Mutant alleles of this gene often exist which produce no active enzyme. In certain cases two such mutant alleles, if brought together within one cell , will in some way co-operate to produce enzymatic activity. This is a typical case of complementation (strictly interallelic complementation) and the two defective alleles are said to complement each other. The interaction can occur when the two alleles are in different nuclei in the same heterocaryon (for example, in Neurospora). It does not appear to have any permanent effect on the genes themselves. It is thus almost certainly an interaction of gene products. In this paper we attempt to sketch a theory of complementation. We first explain briefly what complementation is, and then give a concise summary of the experimental evidence. Next we outline the two possible classes of theory, and point out which facts the theory of protein-protein interaction needs to explain. After listing some assumptions necessary to construct a theory at all, we discuss a number of simplified models. The basic idea is then described, and a number of aspects of it are discussed in detail. Finally we consider the implications of the theory and also the ways in which it might be tested.