Introduction to Proteomics: a Brief Historical Perspective on Contemporary Approaches

The field of proteomics has experienced numerous milestones over the course of the past 35–40 years. As an introductory chapter to this larger review text on plant proteomics, this article provides a cursory historical perspective on protein separation and identification techniques widely used in plant biochemistry laboratories today. In the past 10 years alone, advancements in techniques such as two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, mass spectrometry, and mass spectral data mining have made previously intractable proteomics problems almost routine by today’s standards. In analyzing these various proteomics approaches I also discuss and project their utility for the next generation of proteomics research.