The current proteomic landscape of the porcine liver

The main objective of the study was to create a reproducible protein map of the liver in healthy growing piglets. The analysis was performed on liver homogenates obtained from 8 castrated male piglets (PIC x Penerlan P76) at the 50 days. Two-dimensional electrophoresis and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry allowed to determine the proteomic profile of the liver. Liver proteins were separated at pH 4 - 7, followed by 12% SDS-PAGE. As a result, 470 ± 44 spots were present on the 2-D maps, of which 265 were successfully identified, representing products of 142 unique genes. Of these, 26 gene products have not been previously observed on the protein maps of porcine liver. Gene ontology analysis showed that the most of identified gene products belonged to the known metabolic pathways: protein processing in endoplasmic reticulum, arginine and proline metabolism, microbial metabolism in diverse environments, carbon metabolism, Epstein-Barr virus infection, propionate metabolism, biosynthesis of amino acids, proteasome. These results can undoubtedly serve as a useful and prospective prerequisite for the future analysis of the liver proteome changes in different physiological and pathophysiological conditions.