In-gel digestion for mass spectrometric characterization of proteins and proteomes.

In-gel digestion of proteins isolated by gel electrophoresis is a cornerstone of mass spectrometry (MS)-driven proteomics. The 10-year-old recipe by Shevchenko et al. has been optimized to increase the speed and sensitivity of analysis. The protocol is for the in-gel digestion of both silver and Coomassie-stained protein spots or bands and can be followed by MALDI-MS or LC-MS/MS analysis to identify proteins at sensitivities better than a few femtomoles of protein starting material.