Sample Preparation and Staining Methods for Two-Dimensional Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis of Proteins from Animal Tissues

Abstract

Proteomics in animal science as well as in other biological sciences is a significant tool in the post-genomic era. In proteomic studies the presence and relative abundance of expressed proteins of a cell, tissue or biological fluid is studied. Recently, the whole genome of more and more domestic animal species is known, but genes and the transcribed mRNA have no direct effect on biological systems as they are regulated by proteins, which explain the importance of proteomics. The most common tool in proteomic approach is the two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2D PAGE), when proteins are separated by their isoelectric point followed by their mass separation as a second dimension. In this study authors used different sample preparation and protein staining methods on meat, liver and blood plasma and carried out 2D PAGE experiments. The most appropriate sample preparation methods are described in this paper. We concluded that depletion of major proteins in plasma is required but not necessary for meat and liver samples.