Genetic methods

• conceptual translation- many proteins are never directly sequenced, but their sequence of amino acids is known by "conceptual translation" of a known mRNA sequence. See Genetic code.
• site-directed mutagenesis allows new variants of proteins to be produced and tested for how structural changes alter protein function.
  • insertion of protein tags such as the His-tag. See also: Green fluorescent protein.
• evolutionary; analysis of sequence changes in different species using software such as BLAST.
• Proteins that are involved in human diseases can be identified by matching alleles to disease and other phenotypes using methods such as calculation of LOD scores.