Special Issue "Analysis of Peptides and Proteins by Electrophoretic Techniques"

The characterization of real complex matrices containing peptides and proteins constitutes a relevant issue in the research of life and biological sciences. To understand their functions in animals, plants, and food, studies of their expression levels, post-translational modifications, and specific interactions are crucial. Moreover, proteins and peptides are important biomarkers of many human diseases. Increase in our knowledge on this subject could help to develop biopharmaceuticals. Separation techniques, based on electromigration, coupled to sensitive detection methodologies, have enabled researchers to address these challenging issues. Recently, miniaturized electromigration techniques, including separations achieved in narrow fused silica capillaries or other microdevices, have increased separation efficiency and speed of analysis, reducing sample consumption and waste production. The present Special Issue, "Analysis of Peptides and Proteins by Electrophoretic Techniques", aims to collect and to spread some of the most significant and recent advancements in the study of theses macromolecules. The scope is broad, regarding the use of capillary electrophoresis (CE), chip-based and other miniaturized supports, as well as slab gels to characterize complex mixtures of peptides and proteins. Relevant applications to real matrices (biological fluids, plant extracts, food, etc.) and new technological developments such as microfluidics hyphenated with mass spectrometry, as well as future directions of these techniques, are welcomed.