Defining functions for the full complement of proteins is a grand challenge in the post-genomic era and is essential for our understanding of basic biology and disease pathogenesis. In recent times, this endeavor has benefitted from a combination of modern large-scale and classical reductionist approaches-a process we refer to as "systems biochemistry"-that helps surmount traditional barriers to the characterization of poorly understood proteins. This strategy is proving to be particularly effective for mitochondria, whose well-defined proteome has enabled comprehensive analyses of the full mitochondrial system that can position understudied proteins for fruitful mechanistic investigations. Recent systems biochemistry approaches have accelerated the identification of new disease-related mitochondrial proteins and of long-sought "missing" proteins that fulfill key functions. Collectively, these studies are moving us toward a more complete understanding of mitochondrial activities and providing a molecular framework for the investigation of mitochondrial pathogenesis.

中文翻译：

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定义线粒体蛋白质功能的系统生物化学方法。

定义完整蛋白质的功能是后基因组时代的一项重大挑战，对于我们理解基础生物学和疾病发病机制至关重要。最近，这项努力受益于现代大规模和经典还原方法的结合——我们称之为“系统生物化学”的过程——有助于克服传统障碍，以表征知之甚少的蛋白质。这种策略被证明对线粒体特别有效，其定义明确的蛋白质组使得能够对完整的线粒体系统进行全面分析，从而可以定位未充分研究的蛋白质以进行富有成效的机械研究。最近的系统生物化学方法加速了新的疾病相关线粒体蛋白和长期寻找的线粒体蛋白的鉴定”