Introduction

Recently metalloproteomics and/or metallomics are emerging scientific areas. Metalloproteomics is focused to investigate the distributions and compositions of all metalloproteins in a proteome, their structural and functional characterization, and their structural metal-binding moieties. Metallomics is for integrated bio-trace element science besides metalloproteomics. The intent of this book is to provide readers with a comprehensive view of application of advanced nuclear analytical techniques for metalloproteomics and metallomics. In the first chapter, we introduced the overall objective of this book. The definition and history of metallomics and metalloproteomics are included in section 1. The current applications of nuclear or nuclear-related analytical techniques in metallomics and metalloproteomics are critically outlined in sections 2 and 3, along with comparison of their overall advantages, disadvantages and main limitations. The recent advances in the application of hyphenated techniques for the species-selective determination of elements of interest (As, Cd, Cr, Fe, Hg, Pb, Se, Sn and so on) are also reviewed. Finally, an outlook on the application and further development of advanced techniques in metallomics and metalloproteomics are truely discussed. The comprehensive quantification, distribution, speciation, identification and structural characterization of metallome require high-throughput and powerful analytical techniques.