Highly efficient depletion strategy for the two most abundant erythrocyte soluble proteins improves proteome coverage dramatically.

In-depth human erythrocyte proteome studies are severely hampered by the presence of hemoglobin and carbonic anhydrase-1, which account for more than 98% of the total erythrocyte soluble protein content. We developed a specific depletion approach that resulted in a drastic increase in the number of identified proteins. This depletion technique is valuable for proteome studies of human erythrocyte disorders with unknown etiology and of tissue samples that contain blood.