Relative specificity as an important consideration in the big data era

Technological breakthroughs such as high-throughput methods, genomics, single-cell studies, and machine learning have fundamentally transformed research and ushered in the big data era of biology. Nevertheless, current data collections, analyses, and modeling frequently overlook relative specificity...

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Main Authors: Xiaoxiao Zhang, Yan Zeng
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-10-01
Series:Frontiers in Genetics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgene.2022.1030415/full
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author Xiaoxiao Zhang
Yan Zeng
author_facet Xiaoxiao Zhang
Yan Zeng
author_sort Xiaoxiao Zhang
collection DOAJ
description Technological breakthroughs such as high-throughput methods, genomics, single-cell studies, and machine learning have fundamentally transformed research and ushered in the big data era of biology. Nevertheless, current data collections, analyses, and modeling frequently overlook relative specificity, a crucial property of molecular interactions in biochemical systems. Relative specificity describes how, for example, an enzyme reacts with its many substrates at different rates, and how this discriminatory action alone is sufficient to modulate the substrates and downstream events. As a corollary, it is not only important to comprehensively identify an enzyme’s substrates, but also critical to quantitatively determine how the enzyme interacts with the substrates and to evaluate how it shapes subsequent biological outcomes. Genomics and high-throughput techniques have greatly facilitated the studies of relative specificity in the 21st century, and its functional significance has been demonstrated in complex biochemical systems including transcription, translation, protein kinases, RNA-binding proteins, and animal microRNAs (miRNAs), although it remains ignored in most work. Here we analyze recent findings in big data and relative specificity studies and explain how the incorporation of relative specificity concept might enhance our mechanistic understanding of gene functions, biological phenomena, and human diseases.
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spelling doaj.art-bd25d365cef548d0a8eb5fc2c9eb2acb2022-12-22T03:37:15ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Genetics1664-80212022-10-011310.3389/fgene.2022.10304151030415Relative specificity as an important consideration in the big data eraXiaoxiao ZhangYan ZengTechnological breakthroughs such as high-throughput methods, genomics, single-cell studies, and machine learning have fundamentally transformed research and ushered in the big data era of biology. Nevertheless, current data collections, analyses, and modeling frequently overlook relative specificity, a crucial property of molecular interactions in biochemical systems. Relative specificity describes how, for example, an enzyme reacts with its many substrates at different rates, and how this discriminatory action alone is sufficient to modulate the substrates and downstream events. As a corollary, it is not only important to comprehensively identify an enzyme’s substrates, but also critical to quantitatively determine how the enzyme interacts with the substrates and to evaluate how it shapes subsequent biological outcomes. Genomics and high-throughput techniques have greatly facilitated the studies of relative specificity in the 21st century, and its functional significance has been demonstrated in complex biochemical systems including transcription, translation, protein kinases, RNA-binding proteins, and animal microRNAs (miRNAs), although it remains ignored in most work. Here we analyze recent findings in big data and relative specificity studies and explain how the incorporation of relative specificity concept might enhance our mechanistic understanding of gene functions, biological phenomena, and human diseases.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgene.2022.1030415/fullrelative specificitybig datagenomicscomplex biochemical systemmicroRNA
spellingShingle Xiaoxiao Zhang
Yan Zeng
Relative specificity as an important consideration in the big data era
Frontiers in Genetics
relative specificity
big data
genomics
complex biochemical system
microRNA
title Relative specificity as an important consideration in the big data era
title_full Relative specificity as an important consideration in the big data era
title_fullStr Relative specificity as an important consideration in the big data era
title_full_unstemmed Relative specificity as an important consideration in the big data era
title_short Relative specificity as an important consideration in the big data era
title_sort relative specificity as an important consideration in the big data era
topic relative specificity
big data
genomics
complex biochemical system
microRNA
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgene.2022.1030415/full
work_keys_str_mv AT xiaoxiaozhang relativespecificityasanimportantconsiderationinthebigdataera
AT yanzeng relativespecificityasanimportantconsiderationinthebigdataera