The use of proteomic techniques to explore the holistic effects of nutrients in vivo

Abstract

The availability of ‘omics’ technologies is transforming scientific approaches to physiological problems from a reductionist viewpoint to that of a holistic viewpoint. This is of profound importance in nutrition, since the integration of multiple systems at the level of gene expression on the synthetic side through to metabolic enzyme activity on the degradative side combine to govern nutrient availability to tissues. Protein activity is central to the process of nutrition from the initial absorption of nutrients via uptake carriers in the gut, through to distribution and transport in the blood, metabolism by degradative enzymes in tissues and excretion through renal tubule exchange proteins. Therefore, the global profiling of the proteome, defined as the entire protein complement of the genome expressed in a particular cell or organ, or in plasma or serum at a particular time, offers the potential for identification of important biomarkers of nutritional state that respond to alterations in diet. The present review considers the published evidence of nutritional modulation of the proteome in vivo which has expanded exponentially over the last 3 years. It highlights some of the challenges faced by researchers using proteomic approaches to understand the interactions of diet with genomic and metabolic–phenotypic variables in normal populations.

The effects of eating marine- or vegetable-fed farmed trout on the human plasma proteome profiles of healthy men

“…Plasma is the major systemic fluid of the body, and may thus reflect changes in responses in all parts of the body. The use of plasma proteomics is, however, limited both by the dynamic nature of the plasma and thus day-to-day variation in the plasma proteome and by the variability between subjects and methodological variability ( 45 ) . However, we have attempted to reduce the variability to some extent, by focusing on the changes in individuals over time.…”

Foodomics: MS‐based strategies in modern food science and nutrition

“…The challenge in the combination of Foodomics and Systems Biology is not only at the technological level, where, as mentioned above, great improvements are being made and expected in the “omics” technologies, but also on the bioinformatics side (data processing, clustering, dynamics, or integration of the various “omics” levels) that will have to progress for Systems Biology to demonstrate all its potential in the new Foodomics discipline (Gehlenborg et al, 2010). In this regard, it is also interesting to mention that the traditional medical world has often noted that, although many of the omics tools and Foodomics approaches provide academically interesting research (Griffiths & Grant, 2006; Breikers et al, 2006; Narasaka et al, 2006; Fardet et al, 2007; Rezzi et al, 2007; Smolenski et al, 2007), they have not been translated to methods or approaches with medicinal impact and value because the data integration when dealing with such complex systems is not straightforward (Hirai et al, 2004; Schnackenberg et al, 2006). Thus, traditional medicine represents an important challenge for Systems Biology.…”

Nutrition Science and “Omics” Technologies: Ethical Aspects in Global Health

“…However, it is also interesting to mention that the traditional medical world has often noted that although many of the omics tools and foodomics approaches provide academically interesting research (Breikers et al 2006, Fardet et al 2007, Griffiths and Grant 2006, Narasaka et al 2006, Rezzi et al 2007a,b, Smolenski et al 2007), they have not been translated to methods or approaches with medicinal impact and value, because the data integration when dealing with such complex systems is not straightforward. Thus, foodomics could help to overcome the main limitations detected by EFSA to reject these proposals, namely, lack of information to identify the substance on which the claim is based, lack of evidence that the claimed effect is indeed beneficial to the maintenance or improvement of Downloaded by [McGill University] at 08:56 13 June 2016 the functions of the body, and lack of human studies with reliable measures of the claimed health benefit.…”