Proteomics in 2005/2006: Developments, Applications and Challenges

摘要

The field of proteomics has continually evolved as our globalunderstanding of cellular and biochemical systems has matured and as new research tools have been developed. Our 2002-2004 review (1) discussed some of the research that impacted the development of the proteomics field throughout that time; many of the research areas that were included have remained strong throughout the past 2 years. In particular, the mapping of proteinprotein interactions has led to the near completion of the yeast interactome as well as forays toward the interactome of other species. Technological developments have also been strong, with higher emphases being placed on gel-free approaches and quantitation. The elucidation of proteomic biomarkers has continued but has also faced growing controversy surrounding some of the technical applications used in the discovery process including the overfitting of data. Many different bioinformatic tools have been developed to aid research in this field such as optimize the storage and accessibility of proteomic data or statistically ascertain the significance of protein identifications made from a single peptide match; a great deal of open source software has also emerged. Here we attempt to provide a critical overview of the major developments in the field of proteomics that occurred during the years 2005-2006. Clearly, it is impossible to cover all of the literature that was published over these 24 months; we have therefore focused on a subset that is representative of the field and detail some of the success stories as well as some of the challenges that are currently being faced.