Proteomic insight into the Effect of Pigment Production by Fusarium Chlamydosporum: A SWATH based Quantitative Proteomics

Since many industrial microbiological products result from secondary metabolism, researchers have sought to explain the role of secondary metabolites in the survival of the organism. Fusarium chlamydosporum normally a saprophyte is known to produce a red pigment which still remains unidentified. The mechanism and functional pathway for production of secondary metabolites can be known by profiling the fungal proteome at the time of pigment production i.e. during the late idiophase or early tropophase period of the growth curve. Proteomics will contribute to our understanding of the gene function and metabolic pathways of complex organisms. In this study, a relatively new approach of quantitative proteome profiling was performed. After successful extraction of the proteins from the protoplast (cell wall of the fungus was removed with suitable solvents in order to reduce the complexity of proteins), protein extracts were identified and sequenced by Liquid Chromatography coupled with Mass Spectrometry and Triple-Time of Flight (LC-MS/MS-Triple TOF). Homologous fungal sequences were derived by searching the available data bases with the help of Sequential Window Acquisition of all theoretical fragment ion spectra mass spectrometry (SWATH MS). Our analysis identified a total of 1228 proteins. A stringent analysis led to the identification of 139 proteins and 775 distinct peptides with 99% confidence. Out of the identified 139 proteins, 45 proteins were found to be significantly regulated wherein 24 were up regulated and 21 were down regulated.