Proteomic analysis of an unculturable bacterial endosymbiont (Blochmannia) reveals high abundance of chaperonins and biosynthetic enzymes

J Proteome Res. 2013 Feb 1;12(2):704-18. doi: 10.1021/pr3007842. Epub 2012 Dec 27.

Abstract

Many insect groups have coevolved with bacterial endosymbionts that live within specialized host cells. As a salient example, ants in the tribe Camponotini rely on Blochmannia, an intracellular bacterial mutualist that synthesizes amino acids and recycles nitrogen for the host. We performed a shotgun, label-free, LC/MS/MS quantitative proteomic analysis to investigate the proteome of Blochmannia associated with Camponotus chromaiodes. We identified more than 330 Blochmannia proteins, or 54% coverage of the predicted proteome, as well as 244 Camponotus proteins. Using the average intensity of the top 3 "best flier" peptides along with spiking of a surrogate standard at a known concentration, we estimated the concentration (fmol/μg) of those proteins with confident identification. The estimated dynamic range of Blochmannia protein abundance spanned 3 orders of magnitude and covered diverse functional categories, with particularly high representation of metabolism, information transfer, and chaperones. GroEL, the most abundant protein, totaled 6% of Blochmannia protein abundance. Biosynthesis of essential amino acids, fatty acids, and nucleotides, and sulfate assimilation had disproportionately high coverage in the proteome, further supporting a nutritional role of the symbiosis. This first quantitative proteomic analysis of an ant endosymbiont illustrates a promising approach to study the functional basis of intimate symbioses.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acids / metabolism
  • Animals
  • Ants / metabolism
  • Ants / microbiology
  • Bacterial Proteins / isolation & purification*
  • Bacterial Proteins / metabolism
  • Chromatography, Liquid
  • Enterobacteriaceae / genetics
  • Enterobacteriaceae / metabolism*
  • Fatty Acids / metabolism
  • Group I Chaperonins / isolation & purification*
  • Group I Chaperonins / metabolism
  • Insect Proteins / isolation & purification*
  • Insect Proteins / metabolism
  • Nucleotides / metabolism
  • Proteomics*
  • Sulfates / metabolism
  • Symbiosis / physiology
  • Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Substances

  • Amino Acids
  • Bacterial Proteins
  • Fatty Acids
  • Insect Proteins
  • Nucleotides
  • Sulfates
  • Group I Chaperonins