Role of proteomics in the study of nutrition.

With the advent of nutrigenomics, a more mechanistic view of the variable host responses to nutrients is beginning to emerge. Proteomics is central to nutrigenomics since studies on the effect of nutrients on the proteome have the potential to explain, at the molecular level, many of the physiological changes associated with nutritional stimuli. Proteomics aims at the resolution, identification and quantitation of complex protein mixtures, discovery of interactions of proteins with other molecules, as well as their cellular localization and their role in metabolism. In this article, recent studies on proteomic effects of two vitamins, biotin and folic acid, will be considered as examples of this novel approach to nutriology.

Copyright 2007 S. Karger AG, Basel.