More (now old...2013...where have I been...) evidence that protein quan is superior to RNA quan. In this cool paper in Science from November, researchers looked at the expression levels of RNA and protein in: humans, chimpanzees and rhesus (monkeys...I don't care what the correct term is).
The conclusion? While the mRNA predicted tons of variation in expression levels, none was seen at the protein level. And this makes sense, right? Why would our close neighbors have completely different levels of the proteins that we have? The conclusion in this awesome paper (like the one from Saturday) is that the real selective pressure on regulation is at the protein level, where we can exercise a much more fine level of control. Thanks to Michael Ford for tipping me off to this great study. And kudos to these researchers for such an elegant experimental design, because its easier for us to forget our primate cousins since we don't have to look at this every day:
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