An interolog is a conserved interaction between a pair of proteins which have interacting homologs

Homology (biology)

Homology forms the basis of organization for comparative biology. In 1843, Richard Owen defined homology as "the same organ in different animals under every variety of form and function". Organs as different as a bat's wing, a seal's flipper, a cat's paw and a human hand have a common underlying...

 in another organism. The term was introduced in a 2000 paper by Walhout et al.

Example

Suppose that A and B are two different interacting human proteins, and A' and B' are two different interacting dog proteins. Then the interaction between A and B is an interolog of the interaction between A' and B' if the following conditions all hold:

• A is a homolog
  Homology (biology)
  Homology forms the basis of organization for comparative biology. In 1843, Richard Owen defined homology as "the same organ in different animals under every variety of form and function". Organs as different as a bat's wing, a seal's flipper, a cat's paw and a human hand have a common underlying...
  
   of A'. (Protein homologs have similar amino acid
  Amino acid
  Amino acids are molecules containing an amine group, a carboxylic acid group and a side-chain that varies between different amino acids. The key elements of an amino acid are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen...
  
  sequences and derive from a common ancestral sequence).
• B is a homolog of B'.
• A and B interact.
• A' and B' interact.

Thus, interologs are homologous pairs of protein interactions across different organisms.

External links

• Interactome.org: Interactome portal site.
• Interactomics.org: Interactomics portal site.
• http://www.interologfinder.org: Cross-species interaction prediction site.