Abstract

Shotgun liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) were employed to character the soluble proteome of male Ericerus pela cuticle at the stage of the second instar larva. A total of 278 protein groups (2584 peptides) were identified that involved in a wide spectrum of biological process and molecular function. The proteins were classified into seven categories according to their corresponding functions. Molecular weight (MW) of these identified proteins range from 11 kD to above 110 kD. (isoelectric point) pI were distributed in a range of pH 3.5 to 11.0. Gene ontology (GO) annotation and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis showed that the proteins involved in binding, catalytic, cellular process, metabolic process, biological regulation and protein folding, sorting and degradation are highest. Many important functional proteins related to cell motility and cytoskeleton, stress response, DNA transcription translation and signal transduction were identified. Most heat shock proteins were identified in the proteome of E. pela cuticle at this stage. Chitin deacetylase, gasp and chemosensory protein (CSP) was also identified. The results were expected to provide a better understanding of the development of E. pela.

Key words: Shotgun liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry, proteome, cuticle, biological process, pathway, metabolism.