Nano-LC-ESI MS/MS analysis of proteins in dried sea dragon Solenognathus hardwickii and bioinformatic analysis of its protein expression profiling.
The sea dragon Solenognathus hardwickii has long been used as a traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of various diseases, such as male impotency. To gain a comprehensive insight into the protein components of the sea dragon, shotgun proteomic analysis of its protein expression profiling was conducted in the present study. Proteins were extracted from dried sea dragon using a trichloroacetic acid/acetone precipitation method and then separated by SDS-PAGE. The protein bands were cut from the gel and digested by trypsin to generate peptide mixture. The peptide fragments were then analyzed using nano liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (nano-LC-ESI MS/MS). 810 proteins and 1 577 peptides were identified in the dried sea dragon. The identified proteins exhibited molecular weight values ranging from 1 900 to 3 516 900 Da and pI values from 3.8 to 12.18. Bioinformatic analysis was conducted using the DAVID Bioinformatics Resources 6.7 Gene Ontology (GO) analysis tool to explore possible functions of the identified proteins. Ascribed functions of the proteins mainly included intracellular non-membrane-bound organelle, non-membrane-bounded organelle, cytoskeleton, structural molecule activity, calcium ion binding and etc. Furthermore, possible signal networks of the identified proteins were predicted using STRING (Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes) database. Ribosomal protein synthesis was found to play an important role in the signal network. The results of this study, to best of our knowledge, were the first to provide a reference proteome profile for the sea dragon, and would aid in the understanding of the expression and functions of the identified proteins.
Shanghai Research Center for Modernization of TCM, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, China; Department of Pharmacy, Lanzhou General Hospital of Lanzhou Military Command of Chinese PLA, Lanzhou 730050, China.
Dong-Mei
DM
Zhang
Shanghai Research Center for Modernization of TCM, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, China.
Li-Xing
LX
Feng
Shanghai Research Center for Modernization of TCM, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, China.
Lu
L
Li
Shanghai Research Center for Modernization of TCM, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, China.
Miao
M
Liu
Shanghai Research Center for Modernization of TCM, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, China.
Bao-Hong
BH
Jiang
Shanghai Research Center for Modernization of TCM, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, China.
Min
M
Yang
Key Laboratory of Marine Drugs, Chinese Ministry of Education, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China.
Guo-Qiang
GQ
Li
Shanghai Research Center for Modernization of TCM, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, China. Electronic address: wanyingwu@simm.ac.cn.
Wan-Ying
WY
Wu
Shanghai Research Center for Modernization of TCM, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, China.
De-An
DA
Guo
Shanghai Research Center for Modernization of TCM, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, China. Electronic address: xuanliu@simm.ac.cn.
Xuan
X
Liu
D000818:Animals; D019295:Computational Biology; D029941:Fish Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D005399:Fishes / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D040901:Proteomics; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry
D029941:Fish Proteins; D010455:Peptides
Bioinformatic analysis; Mass-spectrometry-based proteomics; Sea dragon; Solenognathus hardwickii