Enviromental Proteomics

Even though still in its infancy, environmental proteomics (meta proteomics) already comprises a real ‘‘treasure chest’’ of technologies ranging from simple protein cataloging (e.g. by mapping the protein complement of an ecosystem at a certain time point) to comparative and quantitative proteomics (e.g. by evaluating how different environmental conditions affect protein expression), analyses of protein localizations, discovery of post-translational modifications which might affect protein functionality, investigation of protein-protein interactions, and even determination of amino-acid sequences and genotypes, (e.g. by strain-resolved proteogenomics). Hence, potential applications of the above listed technologies in microbial ecology are numerous and include the description of novel functional genes, the identification of completely new catalytic enzymes or entire metabolic pathways, and the description of functional bioindicators to monitor dynamics and sustainability of environmental quality.