Quantitative molecular phenotyping of gill remodeling in a cichlid fish responding to salinity stress.
A two-tiered label-free quantitative (LFQ) proteomics workflow was used to elucidate how salinity affects the molecular phenotype, i.e. proteome, of gills from a cichlid fish, the euryhaline tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus). The workflow consists of initial global profiling of relative tryptic peptide abundances in treated versus control samples followed by targeted identification (by MS/MS) and quantitation (by chromatographic peak area integration) of validated peptides for each protein of interest. Fresh water acclimated tilapia were independently exposed in separate experiments to acute short-term (34 ppt) and gradual long-term (70 ppt, 90 ppt) salinity stress followed by molecular phenotyping of the gill proteome. The severity of salinity stress can be deduced with high technical reproducibility from the initial global label-free quantitative profiling step alone at both peptide and protein levels. However, an accurate regulation ratio can only be determined by targeted label-free quantitative profiling because not all peptides used for protein identification are also valid for quantitation. Of the three salinity challenges, gradual acclimation to 90 ppt has the most pronounced effect on gill molecular phenotype. Known salinity effects on tilapia gills, including an increase in the size and number of mitochondria-rich ionocytes, activities of specific ion transporters, and induction of specific molecular chaperones are reflected in the regulation of abundances of the corresponding proteins. Moreover, specific protein isoforms that are responsive to environmental salinity change are resolved and it is revealed that salinity effects on the mitochondrial proteome are nonuniform. Furthermore, protein NDRG1 has been identified as a novel key component of molecular phenotype restructuring during salinity-induced gill remodeling. In conclusion, besides confirming known effects of salinity on gills of euryhaline fish, molecular phenotyping reveals novel insight into proteome changes that underlie the remodeling of tilapia gill epithelium in response to environmental salinity change.
Physiological Genomics Group, Department of Animal Sciences, University of California Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, California 95616.
Dietmar
D
Kültz
Johnathon
J
Li
Alison
A
Gardell
Romina
R
Sacchi
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid; D023681:Cichlids / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D029941:Fish Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D005618:Fresh Water / Q000737:chemistry; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D005880:Gills / Q000378:metabolism*; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000737:chemistry; D018832:Molecular Chaperones / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D058977:Molecular Sequence Annotation; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism; D059748:Proteolysis; D054712:Salinity; D055049:Salt Tolerance / Q000235:genetics*; D012623:Seawater / Q000737:chemistry; D013312:Stress, Physiological; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry; D014357:Trypsin / Q000737:chemistry; D000099259:N-myc Downstream-Regulated Gene 1 Protein
D002352:Carrier Proteins; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D029941:Fish Proteins; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D018832:Molecular Chaperones; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D014357:Trypsin; D000099259:N-myc Downstream-Regulated Gene 1 Protein