Systems proteomics approaches to study bacterial pathogens: application to Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Significant developments and improvements in basic and clinical research notwithstanding, infectious diseases still claim at least 13 million lives annually. Classical research approaches have deciphered many molecular mechanisms underlying infection. Today it is increasingly recognized that multiple molecular mechanisms cooperate to constitute a complex system that is used by a given pathogen to interfere with the biochemical processes of the host. Therefore, systems-level approaches now complement the standard molecular biology techniques to investigate pathogens and their interactions with the human host. Here we review omic studies in Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis, with a particular focus on proteomic methods and their application to the bacilli. Likewise, the discussed methods are directly portable to other bacterial pathogens.