Quantitative serum proteomics analyses reveal shrimp responses against WSSV infection

For the past decades, quantitative serum proteomics in mammals have been widely applied in biomarker screening. Various serum protein removal methods have been developed to effectively sequester serum abundant proteins. However, few methods have been found for the removal of arthropod serum abundant proteins. Here, gel filtration chromatography and ultracentrifugation methods were applied to remove hemocyanin from Litopeaneus vannamei serum. When shrimps were challenged with white spot syndrome virus (WSSV), a total of 486 serum proteins were identified using mass spectrometry, and 18 upregulated WSSV responsive proteins were identified with isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification (iTRAQ). These results provide an effective method to remove hemocyanin from shrimp serum. With this method some previously unidentified WSSV responsive serum proteins were revealed, which would give us a better insight into the response of crustaceans to WSSV infection.