Application of Proteomics to Fish Processing and Quality

Proteomics involves the study of proteins, with regards to proteins, their expression by genomes, their structures and functions. The entire set of proteins or proteome expressed by a genome display variations in tissues and organisms, and can be used as the basis for evaluating the status and changes in the proteins in living organisms including fish and shellfish. This feature can be useful for developing standards for fish and other food materials and assessing their quality and/or safety. This chapter discusses current uses of proteomics for establishing the attributes of fish and fish products. Proteomics is most succinctly defined as "the study of the entire proteome or a subset thereof," the proteome being the expressed protein complement of the genome. Unlike the genome, the proteome varies among tissues, as well as with time in reflection of the organism's environment and its adaptation thereto. Proteomics can, therefore, give a snapshot of the organism's state of being and, in principle at least, map the entirety of its adaptive potential and mechanisms. As with all living matter, foodstuffs are in large part made up of proteins. This is especially true of fish and meat, where the bulk of the food matrix is constructed from proteins. Furthermore, the construction of the food matrix, both on the cellular and tissue-wide levels, is regulated and brought about by proteins. It stands to reason, then, that proteomics is a tool that can be of great value to the food scientist, giving valuable insight into the composition of the raw materials, quality involution within the product before, during, and after processing or storage, the interactions of proteins with one another or with other food components, or with the human immune system after consumption. In this chapter, a brief overview of "classical" proteomics methodology is presented, and their present and future application in relation to fish and seafood processing and quality is discussed.