Qualitative and quantitative proteomic and metaproteomic analyses of healthy human urine sediment

The healthy human urine sediment proteome and metaproteome are investigated, to shed light on the variations of urine sediment proteins and metaproteins associated with sex and age.

Urine sediment samples are collected from 19 healthy subjects. Protein identification and quantification are performed by liquid chromatography coupled high-resolution mass spectrometry.

A total of 2736 human proteins were identified, which were primarily associated with inflammatory response and energy metabolism. For the metaproteome, 65 genera were identified that were primarily involved in translation and carbohydrate metabolic processes. The median biological coefficient variation of the proteome/metaproteome of human urine sediment was 0.5/0.72, similar to the proteome of human urine supernatant. In addition, sex and age were observed to affect the proteome and metaproteome of healthy human urine sediment.

The healthy human urine sediment were characterized, indicating that urine sediment might represent an alternative resource for disease research in addition to urine supernatant, but the influence of sex and age must be considered in the study design process.