A comprehensive Candida albicans PeptideAtlas build enables deep proteome coverage

Area of Science:

• Proteomics
• Microbiology
• Bioinformatics

Background:

• Candida albicans is an opportunistic fungal pathogen with a significant impact on human health.
• Existing proteomic data for C. albicans has limitations in coverage and detail.
• The PeptideAtlas project aims to systematically document proteomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To create an expanded and enhanced proteome documentation of Candida albicans.
• To improve the coverage and comprehensiveness of the C. albicans PeptideAtlas.
• To provide a resource with detections of individual alleles.

Main Methods:

• Developed new protein extraction and analysis routines.
• Incorporated new datasets from subcellular fractionations, varied growth conditions, surface, and secreted proteomes.
• Analyzed high-resolution mass spectrometry (MS) and tandem MS spectra using multiple search engines and an allele-specific database.

Main Results:

• Identified an additional 49,372 peptides (3-fold increase) and 1630 proteins (1.6-fold increase).
• The new build contains 71,310 peptides and 4174 canonical proteins, covering 66% of the predicted proteome.
• Achieved the first large-scale detection of individual alleles in C. albicans.

Conclusions:

• The enhanced C. albicans PeptideAtlas is the most comprehensive proteomic resource available for this pathogen.
• This resource provides unprecedented detail, including allele-specific information.
• The improved documentation facilitates further research into C. albicans biology and pathogenesis.