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| Introduction to Proteomics |
Proteomics is the large-scale and systematic study of proteins, particularly their structures, functions and interactions. This term was coined (at APAF in 1995) to make an analogy with genomics, and while it is often viewed as the "next step", proteomics is much more complicated than genomics. Most importantly, whilst the genome is a rather constant entity, the proteome differs from cell to cell and is constantly changing through its biochemical interactions with the genome and the environment. One organism will have radically different protein expression in different parts of its body, in different stages of its life cycle and in different environmental conditions.
The protein map of a biological system, be that a cell, sub-cellular fraction or expression media is commonly referred to as a proteome.
Proteomics has an enormous breadth of application ranging from investigation and identification of biomarkers, molecules that are indicative of a particular pathological state, which in turn can be used for diagnostic purposes and targets for therapeutic intervention. Additionally, proteomics has application in the agri-food field, either as a provider of information as to the quality of food stuffs, or more specifically providing data as to the characteristics of crops for instance, which allow them to grow in high salt or drought conditions.
APAF has provided access to researchers from fields including agriculture, cancer research, diagnostics, food industry, veterinary science and biotechnology. | |
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