Functional and structural proteomics: a critical appraisal

The notion of functional proteomics (description of changes in protein expression during differentiation of cells) and structural proteomics (elucidation of the primary structure of the components in the proteomic pattern) is reviewed. Quantitative and qualitative aspects of the proteome analysis are discussed and evaluated. A list of projects is given that are of high priority for the elucidation of the proteome. This includes, e.g., the study of the repertoire of the proteome and the description of molecular pathways during the clonal cell replication. The paper re-evaluates a number of methodological issues, such as the comparison of the use of Ampholines and Immobilines, various staining procedures and labeling procedures.