Solubilization of Proteins in 2DE: An Outline

Protein solubilization for two-dimensional electrophoresis (2DE) has to break molecular interactions to separate the biological contents of the material of interest into isolated and intact polypeptides. This must be carried out in conditions compatible with the first dimension of 2DE, namely isoelectric focusing. In addition, the extraction process must enable easy removal of any nonprotein component interfering with the isoelectric focusing. The constraints brought in this process by the peculiar features of isoelectric focusing are discussed, as well as their consequences in terms of possible solutions and limits for the solubilization process

Protein Spot Detection by Symmetry Derivatives of Gaussians

Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis is the preferred method for simultaneously separating and visualising thousands of proteins. An important part of the computer aided analysis of the proteome is the ability to automatically detect, identify, and quantify the proteins by means of automatic Image processing. We present a fast and sensitive method for protein spot detection using the Circular Symmetry Tensor. It is based upon the work of Bign on Symmetry derivatives of Gaussians