A protein's function is closely linked to its subcellular localization. Use
of Gene Ontology (GO) molecular function terms to extend sequence-based
subcellular localization prediction has been previously shown to improve
predictive performance. Here, we explore directly the relationship between
GO function annotations and localization information, identifying both
highly predictive single terms, and terms with large information gain with
respect to location. The results identify a number of predictive and
informative GO terms with respect to subcellular location, particularly
nucleus, extracellular space, membrane, mitochondrion, endoplasmic reticulum
and Golgi. There are several clear examples illustrating why the addition
of function information provides additional predictive power over sequence
alone. Other interesting phenomena can also be seen in the results. Most
predictive or informative terms are imperfect, and incorrect prediction may
often call out significant biological phenomena. Finally, these results may
be useful in the GO annotation process.