TMT-based proteomic analysis of the inactivation effect of high voltage atmospheric cold plasma treatment on Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Abstract

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a ubiquitous conditional pathogen. Cold plasma with a high inactivation efficacy becomes a potential decontamination technology. In this study, the inactivation effect of high voltage atmospheric cold plasma on P. aeruginosa was investigated through tandem mass tag quantitative proteomics analysis. After the treatment at 75 kV for 90 s, the mortality rate increased from 48.16% to 94.45% as post-treatment time extended to 2 h. A total of 469 proteins (246 being up-regulated and 223 being down-regulated) were identified as differentially expressed proteins. Bioinformatics analysis showed that differentially expressed proteins were mainly involved in energy metabolism, biofilm formation and quorum sensing, cell movement, protein secretion, DNA replication and repair, and RNA transcription and translation. The results indicated that energy generation was inhibited and the biofilm formation of P. aeruginosa became difficult after treatment. This paper deepens the understanding of the response of P. aeruginosa cells to high voltage atmospheric cold plasma treatment at the proteome level.