Reductio Ad Amino Acid

Date: February 1, 1999

Fusion/Tag Proteases TableProteolytic Enzymes TableTable 3Table 4

A proteome analysis aims to characterize all proteins expressed by an organism or tissue. The next step will be to correlate a protein profile with the appropriate genome, and beyond that researchers will want to understand the correlations between levels of proteins, co- and post-translational modifications, and cell or tissue activity. Many of the technologies that are necessary to realize this goal are developing simultaneously: large-scale, high-throughput DNA sequencing efforts are decoding genomes at an unprecedented rate; numerous expression monitoring approaches, expressed sequence tags, and two-dimensional protein gels are cataloging expression patterns; and a variety of staining methodologies are beginning to reveal co- and post-translational protein modifications. However, the basic identification of the proteins present in spots on 2-D gels remains a time-consuming (and sometimes unfathomable) problem.

Flow path for proteomics, from M. Lopez, "Automating Proteome...