Image analysis of two-dimensional gel electrophoresis for comparative proteomics of transgenic and non-transgenic soybean seeds.

Considering the importance of bidimensional electrophoresis and image analysis in comparative proteomics, the parameters that influence the analysis of protein expression of transgenic and non-transgenic soybean seeds were evaluated. The loaded mass of the proteins (150-500 microg), the pH separation range (3-10 or 4-7), and manual/automatic image editing were evaluated. Additionally, after optimizing the conditions, histograms and matchings were obtained in order to accurately analyze the variations (90%) in protein expression. From this, 10 proteins displayed significant differences in expression, and eight of them were characterized and identified by mass spectrometry.