A Quantitative Proteome Map of the Human Body

Area of Science:

• Proteomics
• Human Tissue Biology
• Gene Expression Analysis

Background:

• Understanding human biology and disease requires knowledge of protein levels within tissues.
• Regulatory processes controlling protein levels are crucial but not fully understood.
• Comparing protein and RNA levels provides insights into gene regulation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantify relative protein levels for over 12,000 genes across 32 normal human tissues.
• To identify tissue-specific or tissue-enriched proteins and compare them with transcriptome data.
• To investigate the role of protein tissue-enrichment in understanding human biology and disease phenotypes.

Main Methods:

• Quantitative proteomics was performed on 32 normal human tissue samples.
• Protein levels were quantified for over 12,000 genes.
• Protein data was compared with existing transcriptome data.

Main Results:

• Tissue-specific and tissue-enriched proteins were identified across the 32 tissues.
• Many ubiquitous transcripts were found to encode tissue-specific proteins.
• Discordance between RNA and protein enrichment suggested sites of synthesis and action for secreted proteins.
• Protein tissue-enrichment data explained genetic disease phenotypes not evident from transcript data alone.

Conclusions:

• Protein distribution in human tissues provides a detailed view of complex biological events.
• Understanding protein levels offers critical insights into gene regulation, secretomes, metabolism, and human diseases.
• Protein enrichment data is essential for a comprehensive understanding of genetic disease phenotypes.