Proteomics of the skeletal muscle dystrophin complex.

Abstract

Proteomics is a widely applied analysis pipeline in biomedical research and clinical chemistry. In skeletal muscle biology, proteomics has been extensively used to identify and characterize individual proteoforms in normal and diseased contractile tissue. This article outlines mass spectrometric approaches to study the proteome of myofibers and associated cell types. We highlight sample preparation and protein digestion for bottom-up proteomics, as well as mass analyzers and bioinformatic data handling. As an illustrative example, the identification and characterization of the sarcolemmal dystrophin-glycoprotein complex, which is primarily involved in the progressive muscle wasting disorder Duchenne muscular dystrophy, are explored.