Recent advancements in differential proteomics based on stable isotope coding

Stable isotope coding continues to be a powerful approach in comparative proteomics. This review focuses on recent developments in stable isotope coding-based strategies targeted towards protein expression, protein interactions with other biomolecules, post-translational modifications and absolute quantification. The focus of the bulk of proteomics studies is still on protein expression. An important recent application of isotope coding has been in organelle proteomics. The review ends with the conclusion that isotope coding remains an integral part of quantitative proteomics. There is, however, a need to develop coding strategies which can differentiate changes in protein expression and post-translational modification, address issues of protein dynamic range and facilitate real-time detection of proteins which show a statistically significant change after stimulus.