Differential expression of in vivo and in vitro protein profile of outer membrane of Acidovorax avenae subsp. avenae

PLoS One. 2012;7(11):e49657. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0049657. Epub 2012 Nov 15.

Abstract

Outer membrane (OM) proteins play a significant role in bacterial pathogenesis. In this work, we examined and compared the expression of the OM proteins of the rice pathogen Acidovorax avenae subsp. avenae strain RS-1, a Gram-negative bacterium, both in an in vitro culture medium and in vivo rice plants. Global proteomic profiling of A. avenae subsp. avenae strain RS-1 comparing in vivo and in vitro conditions revealed the differential expression of proteins affecting the survival and pathogenicity of the rice pathogen in host plants. The shotgun proteomics analysis of OM proteins resulted in the identification of 97 proteins in vitro and 62 proteins in vivo by mass spectrometry. Among these OM proteins, there is a high number of porins, TonB-dependent receptors, lipoproteins of the NodT family, ABC transporters, flagellins, and proteins of unknown function expressed under both conditions. However, the major proteins such as phospholipase and OmpA domain containing proteins were expressed in vitro, while the proteins such as the surface anchored protein F, ATP-dependent Clp protease, OmpA and MotB domain containing proteins were expressed in vivo. This may indicate that these in vivo OM proteins have roles in the pathogenicity of A. avenae subsp. avenae strain RS-1. In addition, the LC-MS/MS identification of OmpA and MotB validated the in silico prediction of the existance of Type VI secretion system core components. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to reveal the in vitro and in vivo protein profiles, in combination with LC-MS/MS mass spectra, in silico OM proteome and in silico genome wide analysis, of pathogenicity or plant host required proteins of a plant pathogenic bacterium.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / genetics
  • Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / metabolism*
  • Bacterial Secretion Systems / genetics
  • Chromatography, Liquid
  • Comamonadaceae / genetics
  • Comamonadaceae / metabolism*
  • Computational Biology / methods
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial
  • Gene Order
  • Genome-Wide Association Study
  • Proteome*
  • Proteomics / methods
  • Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Substances

  • Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins
  • Bacterial Secretion Systems
  • Proteome

Grants and funding

This project was supported by Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (Y3090150), Zhejiang Provincial Project (2010R10091), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, the Agricultural Ministry of China (nyhyzx 201003029; 201003066), State Education Ministry and Key Subject Construction Program of Zhejiang for Modern Agricultural Biotechnology and Crop Disease Control (2010DS700124-KF1101). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.