Our proteomes are maintained by the cellular protein quality control pathways that include both molecular chaperones and the cellular degradation machineries. This maintenance is necessary for nascent chains (the newly born polypeptides) but also to deal with other forms of proteotoxic stress (caused by toxicity of malformed proteins) that arise due to internal or external stimuli.
As mentioned above the alteration of the genetic code will impact the proteome and may cause proteotoxic stress. However, how somatic mutations affect our proteomes and which cellular pathways are dealing with this presumed link is currently unclear. In collaboration with the Kampinga group we are currently investigating this link in more detail.
