Proteomic analysis of Deinococcus radiodurans recovering from gamma-irradiation

In order to reveal the mechanisms of the extreme radioresistance and DNA repair in Deinococcus radiodurans, we examined proteome changes in a wild-type strain following gamma-irradiation using two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and Silver-staining. The expression levels of 26 protein spots showed significant changes under radiation stress. Of these spots, 21 were identified with peptide mass fingerprinting using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry after tryptic in-gel digestion. These proteins exhibited various cellular functions, including (i) translation; (ii) transcription; (iii) signal transduction; (iv) post-translational modification, protein turnover, chaperones; (v) carbohydrate transport and metabolism; (vi) energy production and conversion; (vii) nucleotide transport and metabolism; (viii) inorganic ion transport and metabolism; (ix) DNA replication, recombination and repair; and (x) yet unknown. Most of the proteins have not previously been reported to be relevant to radioresistance.