iTRAQ-Based Identification of Proteins Related to Muscle Growth in the Pacific Abalone, Haliotis discus hannai

The abalone Haliotis discus hannai is an important aquaculture species that is grown for human consumption. However, little is known of the genetic mechanisms governing muscle growth in this species, particularly with respect to proteomics. The isobaric tag for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) method allows for sensitive and accurate protein quantification. Our study was the first to use iTRAQ-based quantitative proteomics to investigate muscle growth regulation in H. discus hannai. Among the 1904 proteins identified from six samples, 125 proteins were differentially expressed in large specimens of H. discus hannai as compared to small specimens. In the large specimens, 47 proteins were upregulated and 78 were downregulated. Many of the significant Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways, including these differentially expressed proteins, were closely related to muscle growth, including apoptosis, thyroid hormone signaling, regulation of the actin cytoskeleton, and viral myocarditis (p < 0.05). Our quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analyses suggested that the alterations in expression levels observed in the differentially expressed proteins were consistent with the alterations observed in the encoding mRNAs, indicating the repeatability of our proteomic approach. Our findings contribute to the knowledge of the molecular mechanisms of muscle growth in H. discus hannai.