Latest developments in experimental and computational approaches to characterize protein-lipid interactions

Understanding the functional roles of all the molecules in cells is an ultimate goal of modern biology. An important facet is to understand the functional contributions from intermolecular interactions, both within a class of molecules (e.g. proteinprotein) or between classes (e.g. protein-DNA). While the technologies for analyzing proteinprotein and proteinDNA interactions are well established, the field of proteinlipid interactions is still relatively nascent. Here, we review the current status of the experimental and computational approaches for detecting and analyzing proteinlipid interactions. Experimental technologies fall into two principal categories, namely solution-based and array-based methods. Computational methods include largescale data-driven analyses and predictions/dynamic simulations based on prior knowledge of experimentally identified interactions. Advances in the experimental technologies have led to improved computational analyses and vice versa, thereby furthering our understanding of proteinlipid interactions and their importance in biological systems.