title: An integrated transcriptomic and proteomic analysis of sea star epidermal secretions identifies proteins involved in defense and adhesion.
abstract: Sea stars rely on epidermal secretions to cope with their benthic life. Their integument produces a mucus, which represents the first barrier against invaders; and their tube feet produce adhesive secretions to pry open mussels and attach strongly but temporarily to rocks. In this study, we combined high-throughput sequencing of expressed mRNA and mass-spectrometry-based identification of proteins to establish the first proteome of mucous and adhesive secretions from the sea star Asterias rubens. We show that the two secretions differ significantly, the major adhesive proteins being only present in trace amounts in the mucus secretion. Except for 41 proteins which were present in both secretions, a total of 34 and 244 proteins were identified as specific of adhesive secretions and mucus, respectively. We discuss the role of some of these proteins in the adhesion of sea stars as well as in their protection against oxygen reactive species and microorganisms. In addition, 58% of the proteins identified in adhesive secretions did not present significant similarity to other known proteins, revealing a list of potential novel sea star adhesive proteins uncharacterized so far. The panel of proteins identified in this study offers unprecedented opportunities for the development of sea star-inspired biomimetic materials.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Biology of Marine Organisms and Biomimetics, Research Institute for Biosciences, University of Mons, 7000 Mons, Belgium. Electronic address: elise.hennebert@umons.ac.be.
authors.forename: Elise
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hennebert
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Proteomics and Microbiology, CISMa, Research Institute for Biosciences, University of Mons, 7000 Mons, Belgium.
authors.forename: Baptiste
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Leroy
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Proteomics and Microbiology, CISMa, Research Institute for Biosciences, University of Mons, 7000 Mons, Belgium.
authors.forename: Ruddy
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wattiez
authors.affiliation: Institute of Zoology and Center for Molecular Biosciences, University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ladurner
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D012634:Bodily Secretions / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D004817:Epidermis / Q000378:metabolism*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling / Q000379:methods; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D020543:Proteome / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D013215:Starfish / Q000502:physiology*; D018511:Systems Integration; D059467:Transcriptome / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules; D020543:Proteome
keywords: Adhesive proteins; Adhesive secretions; Mucus; Proteomes; Sea stars; Transcriptomics