Molecular diversity of rat brain proteins as revealed by proteomic analysis

Multiple protein expression forms (MPEFs) presenting splicing forms or co- and posttranslation modifications, account for the vast diversity, the myriad of gene products and clearly indicate problems which proteomics research is facing. In the present study, we generated a rat brain map representing MPEFs by the use of an analytical method based on two-dimensional electrophoresis combined with mass spectrometry. Forty-nine individual proteins were selected that showed more than two spots, resulting altogether into a total number of 357 expression forms. Some proteins showed large MPEFs numbers as e.g. tubulin alpha-1 chain (24 spots), ATP synthase alpha-chain (28), beta chain (17) or septin 7 (13). The molecular diversity observed in this map clearly shows that immunochemical or even protein chemical results from expressional studies have to be interpreted with caution, in particular if one dimensional electrophoretic or western blot techniques are applied and MPEFs are poorly resolved.