Abstract
In recent years, the immune response of mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) has been studied at the transcriptomic level against several bacterial infections. As a result, different immune mechanisms have been revealed, including both conserved essential innate pathways and particularities of the mussel immune response according to its nature and environment. However, there is often a lack of functional verification because mussels are a non-model species and because transcriptomic and proteomic information is not always well correlated. In the current study, a high-throughput quantitative proteomics study coupled to LC-MS/MS analysis using isobaric tandem mass tags (TMTs) for protein labeling was employed to study the mussel gill immune response to a Vibrio splendidus bath (waterborne) infection at a functional protein level. A total of 4,242 proteins were identified and quantified, of which 226 were differentially expressed (DEPs) after infection, giving to the study a depth that was lacking in previous proteomic studies of the bivalve immune response. Modulated proteins evidenced an important cytoskeletal disruption caused by bacterial infection. A conserved network of associated proteins was modulated, regulating oxidative stress and NF-kB inflammatory responses and leading to innate immunity effectors. Proteomic results were submitted to an integrated analysis with those obtained in a previous transcriptomic approach with the same infection. Half of all the quantified proteins had a concordant transcriptomic expression trend, but this concordance increased when focusing on the DEPs. The correlation was higher within the immune-related DEPs, and the activation of the conserved NF-kB pro-inflammatory pathway was the main response in both approaches. The results of both techniques could be integrated to obtain a more complete vision of the response.
Highlights
Mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) have great importance in scientific research for different reasons
The objective of the current work was to carry out a high-throughput proteomic study in gills of the marine mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis subjected to a waterborne infection with Vibrio splendidus, simulating natural infection conditions by a bloom of certain infective bacteria
Enrichment analyses were performed with all the identified and quantified proteins to reveal a general characterization of what type of proteins dominate the mussel gill proteome
Summary
Mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) have great importance in scientific research for different reasons. Mussels are filter feeders in contact with large amounts and diverse potential pathogens, and despite this, they do not commonly suffer severe mortality episodes Mussels can use their efficient innate immune system to deal with different pathogenic agents in a specific way (Costa et al, 2009; Balbi et al, 2013). This attribute is supported by the vast genetic variability that characterizes this species, with several expanded immune gene families as immune recognition C1q factors (Gerdol et al, 2011) or pro-inflammatory cytokines as IL-17 (Saco et al, 2021). Gene families with immune importance are enriched in the dispensable and variable genomic fraction, such as the antimicrobial peptide myticins (Rey-Campos et al, 2020)
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