Proteomic insights of psychrophiles

Abstract

Proteomics is a comprehensive quantification and identification of proteins synthesized in the target of interests and, based on their whole genome sequences, provides a deep understanding of molecular basis for various biological processes that occur in the target. In the field of microbiology, proteomic studies have uncovered the molecular basis for metabolic systems, infection to host cells, stress adaptation, and so on. As for studies on psychrophiles, proteomics is also a powerful approach to quantitatively identify the proteins involved in their cold adaptation. In this chapter, we review various isolates from cold environments and research on their proteomics to understand how psychrophiles adapt to their cold habitats widely spread over the surface of the Earth. In order to highlight the growing of the proteomic studies on psychrophiles, we also discuss the proteomics of the next era, which has been developed by the combination of next-generation DNA sequencing technologies and high-throughput mass spectrometry.