Reverse immunology and the discovery of immune-related functional genes

The completion of sequencing human genome creates a new era of biological science and technology. Although the sequence of the human genome has been known, it is still hard to rapidly explore the whole functional genes, especially, their interaction with each other and the meaning to the body. However, the "reverse biology" which comes into being in the recent years provides us a series of novel ideas and technologies for discovering new functional gene, among which the immune-related genes have attracted more attentions, clarifying how functional gene works and their potential value in application.