Discoveryproteomikk

Discoveryproteomikk refers to a branch of proteomics that emphasizes broad, unbiased profiling of proteins in a biological sample to characterize the proteome and its dynamics. The approach aims to identify and quantify as many proteins as possible without prior hypotheses, enabling the discovery of novel proteins, variants, and post-translational modifications.

The typical workflow centers on mass spectrometry-based analysis. In bottom-up discovery proteomics, proteins are enzymatically digested into peptides, which are separated by chromatography and analyzed by tandem mass spectrometry. Data-independent acquisition and data-dependent acquisition are common acquisition strategies, often complemented by fractionation to increase proteome depth. Quantitative strategies include label-free approaches and isobaric tagging methods such as TMT or iTRAQ, allowing relative or absolute abundance comparisons across samples.

Data analysis combines spectrum identification with protein inference and quantification. Database search engines, spectral libraries, and statistical controls such as false discovery rate are used to assign spectra to peptides and proteins. Results are integrated to produce a comprehensive view of protein presence, abundance, and variation under different conditions. Applications span biomarker discovery, elucidation of disease mechanisms, drug target identification, and systems biology studies. Discovery proteomics is complementary to targeted or hypothesis-driven proteomics, which focus on predefined protein sets.

Challenges in discovery proteomikk include handling the dynamic range of protein abundances, characterization of post-translational modifications, data analysis complexity, and standardization across laboratories. Ongoing methodological advances aim to improve depth, accuracy, and reproducibility of large-scale proteome profiling.