Proteomic response and molecular regulatory mechanisms of Bacillus cereus spores under ultrasound treatment

Abstract

This study was aimed at providing new insights on the proteomic response of bacterial spores to ultrasound. Data-independent-acquisition method was used to quantify the proteome change of Bacillus cereus spores after ultrasound treatment (200 W). This study revealed that 2485 proteins were extracted from Bacillus cereus spores, most of them were related to metabolism. After ultrasound treatment, the expression of 340 proteins were significantly changed (the fold change ≥ 2 and p < 0.05), of which 207 proteins were significantly down-regulated. KEGG pathway analysis showed that differentially expressed proteins mainly distributed in metabolism pathway, cell process pathway and genetic information processing pathway after ultrasound treatment. Furthermore, this study analyzed the differentially expressed proteins in significant enrichment pathways. In particular, the expression of key proteins in the phosphorylation reaction of spores was significantly decreased after ultrasound treatment. Thus, ATP synthesis rate decreased and the phosphorylation reaction inhibited. Also, the decrease of the expression of key proteins related to the tricarboxylic acid cycle led to the decrease of nutrients metabolism of spores. Ultrasound treatment induced the down-regulation of fatty acid synthetase expression and promoted fatty acid metabolism at the same time. The content of fatty acids decreased in spores consequently.

Keywords: Bacillus cereus spores; Differentially expressed proteins; Food safety; Proteomic response; Ultrasound.