Proteomics and regulomics: the yin and yang of functional genomics

Protein analysis is a field of research with a long history. Recently, the development of a series of proteomics approaches, i.e., simultaneous analyses on all or a majority of proteins in a cell at a given state, has reinvigorated protein analyses. Mass Spectrometry also developed into one of the most versatile technical tools supporting or even enabling many proteomics-oriented approaches, providing a convenient link between experimental protein analysis and the corresponding amino acid sequences. Thus direct links to the genomic sequence can be established, which opens the door for a synergistic combination with genomic sequence analysis. This review focuses especially on aspects of genome-wide transcription control, regulomics in analogy to all the other -omics, and how a combination of MS-based proteomics with in silico regulomics analyses can produce synergistic effects in the quest to understand how cells function. This is illustrated on a real life example showing how the MS-analysis and in silico promoter analysis can extend the list of candidates for signaling pathways, here the MAP kinase pathway.