Protein expression arrays for proteomics.

As biology approaches the 50th year of deciphering the DNA code, the next frontier toward understanding cell function has protein biochemistry in the form of structural and functional proteomics. To accomplish the needs of proteomics, novel strategies must be devised to examine the gene products or proteins, emerged as en masse. The authors have developed a high-throughput system for the expression and purification of eukaryotic proteins to provide the resources for structural studies and protein functional analysis. The long-term objective is to overexpress and purify thousands of proteins encoded by the human genome. This library of proteins--the human proteome--can be arrayed in addressable format in quantities and purities suitable for high-throughput studies. Critical technology involved in efficiently moving from genome to proteome includes parallel sample handling, robust expression, and rapid purification procedures. Automation of these processes is essential for the production of thousands of recombinant proteins and the reduction of human error.