Detection of hypothetical proteins in human fetal perireticular nucleus

There is a legion of hypothetical proteins (HP) in prokaryotic and eukaryotic proteomes and the aim of this study was to describe HP in the perireticular nucleus (PN), a key structure in human brain development. Tissue from four PNs was homogenized and extracted proteins were run on two-dimensional gel electrophoresis followed by in-gel digestion and mass spectrometrical identification of proteins. Several databases were used for obtaining bioinformatic information and searching for functional and structural domains. Five spots represented HP: KIAA0423 protein (Q9Y4F4), hypothetical protein KIAA0153 (Q14166), hypothetical protein DKFZp564A2416 (Q9NTW4), hypothetical protein DKFZp564H1122 (Q9H0W9), and hypothetical protein DKFZp564D1378 (Q9H0R4). These structures were predicted to serve in cell cycle, DNA-condensation, neurogenesis, or apoptosis. The existence of formerly HP proteins in the PN of human fetal brain is shown, thus extending knowledge of the brain proteome and proposing the method used as a suitable analytical tool for searching HP.