Research on the proteome response of Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans to phosphate starvation by SELDI-Protein Chip technologies

Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans is a chemolithorrophic microorganism capable of using ferrous ions and sulphides as energy sources. This microorganism has an important role in the bioleaching of minerals. During this process, the bacteria are normally subjected to several stressing conditions, such as temperature changes, lack of nutrients or pH changes, which may affect the efficiency of the bacterial action. SELDI is a recent technology that allows for high-throughput protcomics studies. The Protein Chip SELDI technology was used to generate comparative protein profiles of Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans grown under phosphate starvation or normal condition additionally adding Fe2+ as energy resource. There were 13 significantly differential expressed protein's peaks found by using SELDI Protein Chip technologies, which made a solid foundation for further isolation these low molecular proteins by adopting technologies such as HPLC etc.