Cover Picture: Proteomics 15'10

Monocytes (mis)lead charge against malicious lipo‐polysaccharide Monocytes play a critical role in the functioning of the innate immune system (sometimes). After exposure to low levels of lipopolysaccharide (LPS), monocytes exhibit a refractory period of no response to subsequent exposure to LPS. Zhang et al. took proteomic quantitation tools (iTRAQ) in hand and went exploring. After identifying over 1600 proteins, half of which were membrane proteins and 250 of those tightly regulated by LPS, they found that more than 90% of mitochondrial proteins were downregulated, as were several proteins from the LPS signal pathway. Upregulated were proteins from a number of organelles (ER, Golgi, etc. ). Mitochondrial DNA copy number declined, as expected for a target of an invader. Induction of TNF‐α leads to enhanced production of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species. Given proper control of monocyte LPS response levels, sepsis could become a threat of the past. Zhang, H. et al. , Proteomics 2010, 10 , 2780–2789. Help wanted: Astronomers needed for study of multimagnitude astrocytomas Candidate must be familiar with 2‐D star patterns/2‐D gel patterns. No black holes involved (yet)… Actually this paper is published by a group including molecular biological, cell biological, radiological and neurological “astronomers”. Astrocytomas, one of the more frequent and lethal brain tumors, often show up as graded types: (II) diffuse infiltrative, (III) anaplastic, and (IV) glioblastoma multiforme. Gimenez e t al. explored the differences between the various grades with proteomic tools including 2‐DE, MALDI‐TOF and ESI‐MS/MS. Two proteins of particular interest were found: nucleophosmin (NPM) and raf kinase inhibitor protein (RKIP). Further studies of these two will clarify their potential as markers and/or targets for diagnosis. Gimenez, M. et al ., Proteomics 2010, 10 , 2812–2821. “Gee, I could have used a V8” Context matters: the title of this paragraph could be referring to an eight‐cylinder internal combustion engine with cylinders arranged in a v format with respect to each other, to a brand of vegetable juice mixture, or to a protease derived from the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus V8 . Given that this is a journal devoted to proteomics, chances are very high that the title refers to a protease. Gupta et al. found that establishing such specificity was critical to determining the recognition sequence of proteinases for use in label‐free proteolysis/mass spec. sequencing. The authors have developed a software tool for identifying potential sites using digestion by trypsin and three other enzymes to establish the cutting rules for a new protease. The method works on a proteome‐wide scale. Gupta, N. et al ., Proteomics 2010, 10 , 2833–2844.