Mass spectrometry in food proteomics: a tutorial

Abstract

In the last decades, the continuous and rapid evolution of proteomic approaches has provided an efficient platform for the characterization of food-derived proteins. Particularly, the impressive increasing in performance and versatility of the MS instrumentation has contributed to the development of new analytical strategies for proteins, evidencing how MS arguably represents an indispensable tool in food proteomics. Investigation of protein composition in foodstuffs is helpful for understanding the relationship between the protein content and the nutritional and technological properties of foods, the production of methods for food traceability, the assessment of food quality and safety, including the detection of allergens and microbial contaminants in foods, or even the characterization of genetically modified products. Given the high variety of the food-derived proteins and considering their differences in chemical and physical properties, a single proteomic strategy for all purposes does not exist. Rather, proteomic approaches need to be adapted to each analytical problem, and development of new strategies is necessary in order to obtain always the best results. In this tutorial, the most relevant aspects of MS-based methodologies in food proteomics will be examined, and their advantages and drawbacks will be discussed.

Keywords: MS; food adulteration; food quality; food safety; proteomics.