Linking protein oxidation to environmental pollutants: Redox proteomic approaches

Environmental pollutants, such as compounds used in agriculture or deriving from vehicles, industries and human activities, can represent major concern for human health since they are considered to contribute significantly to many diseased states with major public health significance. Besides considerable epidemiological evidence linking environmental pollutants with adverse health effects, little information is provided on the effects of these compounds at the cellular and molecular level. Though oxidative stress is generally acknowledged as one of the most important mechanisms of action for pollutant-induced toxicity, redox proteomics, the elective tool to identify post-translationally oxidized proteins, is still in its very infancy in this field of investigation. This review will provide the readers with an outline of the use of redox proteomics in evaluating pollutant-induced oxidative damage to proteins in various biological systems. Future potential applications of redox proteomic approaches from an environmental point of view will be discussed as well.

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► Environmental pollutants contribute to many diseased states with major public significance.
► Though toxicity of pollutants is often mediated by oxidative stress,environmental redox proteomics is still in its infancy.
► Gel-based and gel-free approaches offer tremendous opportunities for environmental redox proteomic studies.
► Pollutant-induced oxidative protein PTMs still need to be investigated for many well-known pro-oxidant metals and pesticides.
► Environmental redox proteomics will allow toxicity profiling, biomarker discovery and sustainable agriculture/farming programs.