Mouse models for neurodegenerative diseases and a theory of proteomics

Proteome analysis is usually performed by separating complex cellular protein extracts by two‐dimensional‐electrophoresis followed by protein identification using mass spectrometry. In this way proteins are compared from normal and diseased tissue in order to detect disease related protein changes. In a strict sense, however, this procedure cannot be called proteome analysis: the tools of proteomics are used just to detect some interesting proteins which are then investigated by protein chemistry as usual. Real proteome research would be studying the cellular proteome as a whole, its composition, organization and its kind of action. At present however, we have no idea how a proteome works as a whole; we have not even a theory about that. If we would know how the proteome of a cell type is arranged, we probably would alter our strategy to detect and analyze disease‐related proteins. I will present a theory of proteomics and show some results from our laboratory which support this theory. The results come from investigations of the mouse brain proteome and include mouse models for neurodegenerative diseases.