title: Proteomics of bacterial pathogens.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Significant progress has been made in the characterisation of bacterial pathogens using a combination of genomic and proteomic technologies. The data generated have improved our understanding of how these microbes interact with the human host to cause disease.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Practical outcomes include the identification of putative vaccines and new drug targets.
  
  
  METHODS
  This review highlights those developments achieved through the use of proteomic technologies including established electrophoretic methods as well as state-of-the-art mass spectrometry based techniques.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Proteomics has been used at diverse levels to investigate microbial physiology, gene expression and the complex interactions between bacteria and their hosts. Pathogenic determinants are identified through comparative proteomics between virulent and avirulent isolates whereas complex disease phenotypes can be correlated with specific proteomic signatures identified through the analysis of large collections of natural isolates. Initial progress has been achieved on defining the bacterial proteome during in vivo infection, which will probably be a key research area over the coming years.
authors.affiliation: University of Aberdeen, Department of Medical Microbiology, Foresterhill, Aberdeen AB25 2ZD, UK +44 01224 555809 ; +44 01224 552692 ; p.cash@abdn.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Phillip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cash