Complete set of molecular interactions in a biological cell
In molecular biology, an interactome is the whole set of molecular interactions in a particular cell. The term specifically refers to physical interactions among molecules (such as those among proteins, also known as protein–protein interactions, PPIs; or between small molecules and proteins[1]) but can also describe sets of indirect interactions among genes (genetic interactions).
Part of the DISC1 interactome with genes represented by text in boxes and interactions noted by lines between the genes. From Hennah and Porteous, 2009.[2]
The word "interactome" was originally coined in 1999 by a group of French scientists headed by Bernard Jacq.[3] Mathematically, interactomes are generally displayed as graphs. though interactomes may be described as biological networks, they should not be confused with other networks such as neural networks or food webs.