Abstract
Targeted approaches have been widely used to help explain physiological adaptations, but few studies have used non-targeted omics approaches to explore differences between diving marine mammals and terrestrial mammals. A rank comparison of undepleted serum proteins from common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) and pooled normal human serum led to the discovery of 11 proteins that appeared exclusive to dolphin serum. Compared to the comprehensive human plasma proteome, 5 of 11 serum proteins had a differential rank greater than 200. One of these proteins, Vanin-1, was quantified using parallel reaction monitoring in dolphins under human care and free-ranging dolphins. Dolphin serum Vanin-1 ranged between 31–106 μg/ml, which is 20–1000 times higher than concentrations reported for healthy humans. Serum Vanin-1 was also higher in dolphins under human care compared to free-ranging dolphins (64 ± 16 vs. 47 ± 12 μg/ml P < 0.05). Vanin-1 levels positively correlated with liver enzymes AST and ALT, and negatively correlated with white blood cell counts and fibrinogen in free-ranging dolphins. Major differences exist in the circulating blood proteome of the bottlenose dolphin compared to terrestrial mammals and exploration of these differences in bottlenose dolphins and other marine mammals may identify veiled protective strategies to counter physiological stress.
Highlights
In marine mammals, the high glucose demands of red blood cells and tissues can require elevated glucose production or cycling during long periods of fasting in some species[16]
To extend the discovery of phenotypic determinants in the serum that may promote the ability of marine mammals to counter stress, we created a normalized spectral abundance factor rank-list of high abundance serum proteins from bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)[22] alongside undepleted human and pig serum proteomes generated in-house
The use of the term, high abundance, to describe serum proteins in dolphins is based on the fact that these proteins were identified from tryptic peptides from sera that were not depleted of major proteins
Summary
The high glucose demands of red blood cells and tissues can require elevated glucose production or cycling during long periods of fasting in some species[16]. Fasted bottlenose dolphins exhibit higher serum glucose concentrations compared to horses and cows[17] and slightly higher plasma glucose levels than fed dolphins[18] suggestive of a natural “diabetic-like” state that may be beneficial during times of short-term fasting. Many insightful studies of marine mammal physiology and health have focused on oxygen transport, antioxidant, metabolic, and clinical laboratory-relevant proteins in the blood; comparative studies describing the circulating serum proteome in marine mammals have not been extensively interrogated for novel serum phenotypes that could underlie significant alternative mechanisms of protection and/or metabolic regulation. To extend the discovery of phenotypic determinants in the serum that may promote the ability of marine mammals to counter stress, we created a normalized spectral abundance factor rank-list of high abundance serum proteins from bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)[22] alongside undepleted human and pig serum proteomes generated in-house. Measurements of Vanin-1 levels in both dolphins under human-care and free-ranging dolphins were made and correlated with clinical blood laboratory values
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