Mass spectrometry-based quantitative proteomic analysis of Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis protein expression...

Salmonella enterica, a common food-borne bacterial pathogen, is believed to change its protein expression profile in the presence of different environmental stress such as that caused by the exposure to hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), which can be generated by phagocytes during infection and represents an important antibacterial mechanism of host cells. Among Salmonella proteins, the effectors of Salmonella pathogenicity island 1 and 2 (SPI-1 and SPI-2) are of particular interest since they are expressed during host infection in vivo and are important for invasion of epithelial cells and for replication in organs during systemic infection, respectively. However, the expression profiles of these proteins upon exposure to H2O2 or to host cells in vivo during the established phase of systemic infection have not been extensively studied.

Using stable isotope labeling coupled with mass spectrometry, we performed quantitative proteomic analysis of Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis and identified 76 proteins whose expression is modulated upon exposure to H2O2. SPI-1 effector SipC was expressed about 3-fold higher and SopB was expressed approximately 2-fold lower in the presence of H2O2, while no significant change in the expression of another SPI-1 protein SipA was observed. The relative abundance of SipA, SipC, and SopB was confirmed by Western analyses, validating the accuracy and reproducibility of our approach for quantitative analysis of protein expression. Furthermore, immuno-detection showed substantial expression of SipA and SipC but not SopB in the late phase of infection in macrophages and in the spleen of infected mice.

We have identified Salmonella proteins whose expression is modulated in the presence of H2O2. Our results also provide the first direct evidence that SipC is highly expressed in the spleen at late stage of salmonellosis in vivo. These results suggest a possible role of SipC and other regulated proteins in supporting survival and replication of Salmonella under oxidative stress and during its systemic infection in vivo.