Proteomics of the nervous system

The recent success of large-scale industrialized genomic sequencing opens n ew doors in studies of biological systems. In the current post-genomic era we must ask how to translate this DNA sequence information into an understa nding of living cells, tissues and organisms. One of the major goals is to characterize protein function, biochemical pathways and networks. Achieving this aim is greatly advanced by application of new proteomic tools combine d with database mining. Neuroscience in particular is poised to benefit fro m these approaches in light of its high complexity and cross-talk between d ifferent neurotransmitter receptors within the same synapse or across the s ynaptic cleft. Little is known about the global in vivo protein interaction s within synapses, and the knowledge of all proteins present in such struct ures will help in determining sub-complexes and the modular arrangement of proteins within them. This article reviews the impact of and outlines the a pplication of proteomic analysis in the field of neuroscience, illustrating this with the example of NMDA receptor complexes.