The analysis of cellular subproteomes by 2DE is hampered by the difficulty of aligning gel images from samples that have very different protein composition. Here, we present a sensitive and cost-effective fluorescent labeling method for analyzing protein samples that is not dependent on their composition. The alignment is guided by inclusion of a complex mixture of proteins that is co-run with the sample. Maleimide-conjugated fluorescent dyes Dy-560 and Dy-635 are used to label the cysteine residues of the sample of interest and the alignment standard, respectively. The two differently labeled mixtures are then combined and separated on a 2D gel and, after selective fluorescence detection, an unsupervised image registration process is used to align the protein patters. In a pilot study, this protocol significantly improved the accuracy of alignment of nuclear proteins with total cellular proteins.
Keywords: Electrophoresis; Fluorescent labeling; Image registration; Subproteomes; Technology.
© 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.