The temperature dependent proteomic analysis of Thermotoga maritima

PLoS One. 2012;7(10):e46463. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0046463. Epub 2012 Oct 5.

Abstract

Thermotoga maritima (T. maritima) is a typical thermophile, and its proteome response to environmental temperature changes has yet to be explored. This study aims to uncover the temperature-dependent proteins of T. maritima using comparative proteomic approach. T. maritima was cultured under four temperatures, 60°C, 70°C, 80°C and 90°C, and the bacterial proteins were extracted and electrophoresed in two-dimensional mode. After analysis of gel images, a total of 224 spots, either cytoplasm or membrane, were defined as temperature-dependent. Of these spots, 75 unique bacterial proteins were identified using MALDI TOF/TOF MS. As is well known, the chaperone proteins such as heat shock protein 60 and elongation factor Tu, were up-regulated in abundance due to increased temperature. However, several temperature-dependent proteins of T. maritima responded very differently when compared to responses of the thermophile T. tengcongensis. Intriguingly, a number of proteins involved in central carbohydrate metabolism were significantly up-regulated at higher temperature. Their corresponding mRNA levels were elevated accordingly. The increase in abundance of several key enzymes indicates that a number of central carbohydrate metabolism pathways of T. maritima are activated at higher temperatures.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Bacterial Proteins / metabolism*
  • Blotting, Western
  • Electrophoresis, Gel, Two-Dimensional
  • Proteome*
  • Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization
  • Temperature*
  • Thermotoga maritima / metabolism*

Substances

  • Bacterial Proteins
  • Proteome

Grants and funding

The work was supported by the grants of the National Basic Research Program of China (2010CB912703) (2007CB707801) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30770467). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.