Changes of proteome components of Helicobacter pylori biofilms induced by serum starvation

Biofilm is the adaptive living mechanism of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) during survival and propagation. Nutrient starvation is an environmental pressure for H. pylori in vivo and in vitro. Serum starvation effectively mimics the microenvironment in which H. pylori colonizes healthy humans who carry H. pylori and patients with chronic atrophic gastritis. In addition, it also mimics the in vitro environmental pressures of H. pylori. An H. pylori biofilm was successfully induced with serum starvation. To identify novel proteins associated with biofilm formation at the early stage in H. pylori, high-resolution 2-dimensional gel electrophoresis was performed to obtain the proteome profiles of spiral H. pylori and early biofilm. Differential protein spots were identified using tandem matrix assisted laser desorption ionization time of flight mass spectrometry, which revealed 35 proteins. These proteins are associated with various biological functions, including flagellar movement, bacterial virulence, signal transduction and regulation. To verify the results, the expression of cagA at the mRNA and protein levels was examined by fluorescence quantitative PCR and western blot analysis, respectively. This study indicates that H. pylori form biofilms by initiating multiple mechanisms involving a number of signaling pathways.