Proteomics and the analysis of proteomic data: an overview of current protein-profiling technologies.

In recent years, several proteomic methodologies have been developed that now make it possible to identify, characterize, and comparatively quantify the relative level of expression of hundreds of proteins that are coexpressed in a given cell type or tissue, or that are found in biological fluids such as serum. These advances have resulted from the integration of diverse scientific disciplines including molecular and cellular biology, protein/peptide chemistry, bioinformatics, analytical and bioanalytical chemistry, and the use of instrumental and software tools such as multidimensional electrophoretic and chromatographic separations and mass spectrometry. In this unit, some of the common protein-profiling technologies are reviewed, along with the accompanying data-analysis tools.