The present state and future direction of integrated gene function analysis

The determination of the function of the protein products of genes has been a major focus of molecular biology since the founding of the discipline. The development of knock-in, knock-down, and transgenic methodologies has greatly speeded laboratory discoveries, while the development of high-throughput measurement technologies for many molecular species has led to the emergence of computational methods capable of predicting functional relationships between genes. In the future, we should see the emergence of quantitative models based on integrated data and laboratory methods that elucidate context-specific functions and identify how gene function depends on changing partners and contexts.