Unraveling age-dependent variation of the mitochondrial proteome.

Blue-native and colorless-native gel electrophoresis combined with subsequent 2D-SDS-PAGE and MALDI mass spectrometry are successfully applied for understanding the role of mitochondria in cellular dysfunction, aging, and cellular death. The partial mitochondrial proteome maps of various tissues (liver, brain, kidney, heart, and skeletal muscle) obtained from rat serve now as a database for the elucidation of age-dependent changes, including alterations in protein-protein interactions as well as in posttranslational modifications.