Cover Picture: Proteomics 17'10

Abstract Not so quick fix versus the big freeze Honey bees use beeswax to store their food (honey) for long periods ( e.g. length of Egyptian afterlife, >4000 years and counting). Pathologists use paraffin to store their patient tissue samples (their “food for thought”) for long periods, like over 100 years. The nice thing about honey is that it is ready to eat upon opening. The problem with paraffin embedded tissue is that it is difficult to extract experimentally useful material from it. DeSouza et al. demonstrate that FFPE samples can yield useful information. Peptides could be extracted and suitably labeled for quantitative LC‐MS/MS analysis using the iTRAQ technology. The introduction of mTRAQ, laser microdissection, commercial sample preparation kits and other techniques extended the quantitative sensitivity of the assay for certain proteins. PIGR, for example, was a strong marker for malignant endometrial tissue. FFPE results were confirmed by comparison to frozen sections of the same sample. DeSouza, L. V. et al ., Proteomics 2010, 10 , 3108–3116. A whiff of smoke sets off alarms A “chirrup” in the middle of the night can be considered welcome or not, depending. If you've been wondering whether your smoke alarm should be tested, now you know – no, but you'd better replace the battery before the chirruping drives you crazy by sleep deprivation. Bacillis subtilis has an alarm system for warning the cell of impending danger (I don't know if it sleeps or can go crazy). The subtilis system, YodB, is evolutionarily conserved and rather selective. It senses diamide and quinone‐like electrophiles using a dual cysteine semi‐reversible crosslinking mechanism. These targets are the natural products of the citric acid cycle. Chi et al. explored the genetic requirements and relationships of the YodB system. Involved in the functional YodB repressor are conserved amino acids at positions c6, c101, c108 and p7. Chi, B. K. et al ., Proteomics 2010, 10 , 3155–3164. Biochemical “Barry Bonds”‐ing or how does DHT do what it does to you? The use of natural and synthetic anabolic steroids by professional, amateur and adolescent athletes has reached epidemic rates in some sports. Imperlini et al. apply proteomic tools, starting with 2‐D DIGE, to examine the effects of hyperphysiological levels of androgens and testosterones on selected cell types. They found ∼30 cases of differential expression. Functionally, roughly half were involved in apoptosis, both negative and positive regulation. Disturbed genes responsible for actin remodeling may also enhance cell survival and invasiveness rather than cell death (apoptosis), which may allow the cells to bypass a potential cancer checkpoint and continue growing. From the number of genes that are functionally disrupted in vitro in primary lymphocytes, there can be little doubt that the problem is worse in vivo . Imperlini, E. et al ., Proteomics 2010, 10 , 3165–3175.