An interaction is inferred when a bait protein is affinity captured from cell extracts by either polyclonal antibody or epitope tag and the associated interaction partner is identified by mass spectrometric methods.

Interaction directly demonstrated at the atomic level by X-ray crystallography. Also used for NMR or Electron Microscopy (EM) structures. If there is no obvious bait-hit directionality to the interaction involving 3 or more proteins, then the co-crystallized proteins should be listed as a complex.

An interaction is inferred between proteins in vitro. This can include proteins in recombinant form or proteins isolated directly from cells with recombinant or purified bait. For example, GST pull-down assays where a GST-tagged protein is first isolated and then used to fish interactors from cell lysates are considered reconstituted complexes (e.g. PUBMED: 14657240, Fig. 4A or PUBMED: 14761940, Fig. 5). This can also include gel-shifts, surface plasmon resonance, isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) and bio-layer interferometry (BLI) experiments. The bait-hit directionality may not be clear for 2 interacting proteins. In these cases the directionality is up to the discretion of the curator.

A genetic interaction is inferred when mutations in separate genes, each of which alone causes a minimal phenotype, result in a significant growth defect under a given condition when combined in the same cell.