Power and limitations of electrophoretic separations in proteomics strategies

TL;DR

This review critically examines electrophoretic separation techniques in proteomics, discussing their principles, applications, and specific features that influence their integration with mass spectrometry for large-scale protein analysis.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of electrophoretic methods in proteomics, highlighting their capabilities and limitations in the context of large-scale protein analysis.

Findings

Electrophoretic techniques are essential for protein separation prior to mass spectrometry.

Gel electrophoresis has unique features affecting protein detection and peptide recovery.

The review discusses the interplay between electrophoresis and mass spectrometry in proteomics.

Abstract

Proteomics can be defined as the large-scale analysis of proteins. Due to the complexity of biological systems, it is required to concatenate various separation techniques prior to mass spectrometry. These techniques, dealing with proteins or peptides, can rely on chromatography or electrophoresis. In this review, the electrophoretic techniques are under scrutiny. Their principles are recalled, and their applications for peptide and protein separations are presented and critically discussed. In addition, the features that are specific to gel electrophoresis and that interplay with mass spectrometry (i.e., protein detection after electrophoresis, and the process leading from a gel piece to a solution of peptides) are also discussed.