Progress in farm animal proteomics: The contribution of combinatorial peptide ligand libraries

The present review covers proteomics discoveries in farm animals using combinatorial peptide ligand libraries (CPLLs). These libraries enhance the identification of low-abundance proteins by compressing the dynamic range of the protein concentration. This technology can be applied in multiple biological fluids, such as plasma or serum, follicular and cerebrospinal fluids, urine, saliva, tears seminal fluid, milk whey and even lymph. The discovery of low-abundance proteins contributes to the continuous monitoring for animal pathologies, which allows early treatment and disease prevention. Additionally, evidencing rare proteins in animal products used for human consumption can help in assessing their nutritional properties and their positive or negative effects on human health. SIGNIFICANCE: Many investigations are made on the identification of proteins of farm animals. Protein concentration changes under abnormal stressful conditions as a sign of a first physiological reaction. Many of these protein changes are of low-abundance and their detection is dependent on enrichment technologies. These changes are potentially correlated with the type of stressor and may determine actions to preserve the animal welfare.