Towards the proteome of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Human tuberculosis is caused by the intracellular pathogen Mycobacterium tu berculosis. Sequencing of the genome of M. tuberculosis strain H37Rv has pr edicted 3924 open reading frames, and enabled identification of proteins fr om this bacterium by peptide mass fingerprinting. Extracellular proteins fr om the culture medium and proteins in cellular extracts were examined by tw o-dimensional gel electrophoresis using immobilized pH gradient technology. By mass spectrometry and immunodetection, 49 culture filtrate proteins and 118 lysate proteins were identified, 83 of which were novel. To date, 288 proteins have been identified in M. tuberculosis proteome studies, and a li st is presented which includes all identified proteins (available at http:/ /www.ssi.dk/publichealth/tbimmun). The information obtained from the M. tub erculosis proteome so far is discussed in relation to the information obtai ned from the complete genome sequence.