Application of the yeast two-hybrid system in molecular gerontology

Most – if not all – proteins are bound to interact with other proteins to exert their function, and thus the identification of the interaction partners of a protein is vital in proteomics. The yeast two-hybrid system is a popular and effective tool for studyingprotein–protein interactions. Although the advantages of the system are manifold, it also has certain drawbacks and limitations. The two-hybrid system has been shown to be extremely useful for placing a protein of unknown function within a functional context, thereby providing information about a putative role of the uncharacterised protein. This concept has also been successfully applied in molecular gerontology. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.