title: Characterization and comparison of proteomes of albino sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus (Selenka) by iTRAQ analysis.
abstract: Sea cucumber is a commercially important marine organism in China. Of the different colored varieties sold in China, albino sea cucumber has the greatest appeal among consumers. Identification of factors contributing to albinism in sea cucumber is therefore likely to provide a scientific basis for improving the cultivability of these strains. In this study, two-dimensional liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry coupled with isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification labeling was used for the first time to quantitatively define the proteome of sea cucumbers and reveal proteomic characteristics unique to albino sea cucumbers. A total of 549 proteins were identified and quantified in albino sea cucumber and the functional annotations of 485 proteins have been exhibited based on COG database. Compared with green sea cucumber, 12 proteins were identified as differentially expressed in the intestine and 16 proteins in the body wall of albino sea cucumber. Among them, 5 proteins were up-regulated in the intestine and 8 proteins were down-regulated in body wall. Gene ontology annotations of these differentially expressed proteins consisted mostly of 'biological process'. The large number of differentially expressed proteins identified here should be highly useful in further elucidating the mechanisms underlying albinism in sea cucumber.
authors.affiliation: School of Marine Sciences, Ningbo University, Zhejiang Province 315211, PR China; Xinlicheng Reservoir Management Bureau in Changchun, Jilin Province 130119, PR China.
authors.forename: Chang-Ge
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.affiliation: School of Marine Sciences, Ningbo University, Zhejiang Province 315211, PR China.
authors.forename: Dijun
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Marine Sciences, Ningbo University, Zhejiang Province 315211, PR China.
authors.forename: Chengnv
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: School of Marine Sciences, Ningbo University, Zhejiang Province 315211, PR China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: School of Marine Sciences, Ningbo University, Zhejiang Province 315211, PR China.
authors.forename: Shan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: School of Marine Sciences, Ningbo University, Zhejiang Province 315211, PR China. Electronic address: suxiurong_public@163.com.
authors.forename: Xiu-Rong
authors.initials: XR
authors.lastname: Su
mesh_terms: D000417:Albinism / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000378:metabolism; D060066:Protein Interaction Maps; D020543:Proteome; D012616:Sea Cucumbers / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D020543:Proteome
keywords: Differentially proteins; Proteome; The albino sea cucumber; iTRAQ labeling