Background: Mammary cancer, called breast cancer in humans, results from the abnormal growth of cells in the mammary glands that attack the surrounding tissue. The process of carcinogenesis at the molecular level can be monitored through the production of proteins as biomarkers for carcinogenesis. 7,12-Dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA) is a known carcinogenic compound. This study aimed to analyze the proteomic profile as critical data regarding DMBA-induced carcinogenesis in Sprague‒Dawley rats. Methods: Experimental animals were divided into two groups: a treatment group given DMBA at a dose of 10 mg/kg (intramammary) at intervals of 48 hours for a total of 10 doses, and a negative control group that was not given any treatment. Measurement of the total protein concentration was carried out using a spectrophotometer, and the data were analyzed using a t-test, while the characterization of protein profiles was carried out based on molecular weight data using SDS‒PAGE. Mammary gland histopathology was evaluated by hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining. Results: The results showed a significant (p<0.05) increase of 27% in the total protein concentration in the rat mammary cancer model. The results of proteomic characterization showed a protein profile containing proteins of 187, 169, 68, 64, 53, 41, 24, 18, and 14 kDa, which were suspected to be HER-2, Nischarin, COX-2, Albumine, Vimentin, ACTB, TNF, p16, and fatty acid binding protein 3 (FABP3), respectively. Histopathology of the mammary glands showed an irregular and indistinct arrangement of the alveoli and extensive epithelial cell proliferation from the surface to the lumen of the mammary ducts, and the mammary stroma showed the formation of new epithelial cells, which were cancer cells that spread to surrounding tissue. Conclusions: The proteomic profile was strongly associated with morphological alterations in mammary carcinogenesis in a rat model of DMBA-induced mammary cancer.

Bulk zinc oxide (ZnO-BPs) and its nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) are frequently used in various products for humans. Helisoma duryi embryos can serve as effective model organisms for studying the toxicity of NPs. This study aimed to compare the teratogenic potency of ZnO-BPs and ZnO NPs in the embryonic stages of H. duryi to evaluate the utility of this snail as a bioindicator for ZnO-NPs in the aquatic environment. The mechanisms of teratogenesis were evaluated by determination of the LC50, studying the effect of sub-lethal concentrations of both ZnO forms on the embryos, and studying their enzyme activity, oxidative stress, and biochemical analysis. The SDS-PAGE electrophoresis was undertaken to assess the effect of ZnO-BPs and ZnO NPs on protein synthesis. The results revealed that the veliger stage of H. duryi is the specific stage for bulk and nano ZnO. ZnO-NPs proved to be more toxic to snails\' embryos than ZnO-BPs. Exposure to ZnO influences specific types of defects in development, which in the case of BPs are far less drastic than those caused by NPs. Thus, the toxicity of ZnO-NPs in embryonic development is due to their unique physicochemical properties. The observed malformations include mainly hydropic malformation, exogastrulation, monophthalmia, shell misshapen, and cell lyses. Almost all tested oxidative biomarkers significantly changed, revealing that ZnONPs display more oxidative stress than ZnO-BPs. Also, the low concentration of ZnO induces many disturbances in the organic substances of veliger larvae, such as a decrease in the total protein and total lipid levels and an increase in the glycogen level. The results indicated that ZnO-BPs increase the number of protein bands. Conversely, ZnO-NPs concealed one band from treated egg masses, which was found in the control group. Embryos of snail are an appropriate model to control freshwater snails. This study demonstrates that H. duryi embryos can serve as effective model organisms to study the toxicity of ZnO-NPs.

This study investigated the impact of blanching (100 °C, 40 s), defatting method (maceration, Soxhlet) and solvent polarity (hexane, ethanol) on the profile, structure and solubility of house cricket protein extracts. Blanching and Soxhlet using ethanol impacted the protein profile, with a lower content of myosin heavy chain and a higher abundance of low molecular weight proteins (<25 kDa). Moreover, ethanol induced aggregation of non-blanched cricket proteins, with a 13-72% reduction in protein recovery yield. The protein secondary structure of non-blanched extracts was also affected by ethanol with 18% more β-sheets. Furthermore, blanching resulted in a lower protein surface hydrophobicity by a factor of 3 to 7, with no impact of solvent polarity. Finally, the solubility of protein extracts remained >75%, regardless of the blanching and defatting methods. These findings, combined with the evaluation of techno-functional properties, could be used for the development of cricket-based protein ingredients for food formulations.

The impact of high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) on protein digestibility of egg yolk and egg yolk granule was evaluated by static in vitro digestion using the standardized INFOGEST 2.0 method. The degree of hydrolysis (DH) and the phospholipid content were determined during digestion, and the protein and peptide profiles were characterized by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and reverse phase-high pressure liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC). The results showed that HHP induced protein aggregation in egg yolk and granule, mainly by disulfide bridges, which were not disrupted in the oral phase. Proteolysis during the gastric phase improved egg yolk and granule protein solubility, regardless of whether HHP was applied. However, the extent of the samples\' digestibility was not affected, with DH values ranging from 15% to 20%. During the intestinal phase, the DH of egg yolk protein (∼40%) was higher than that of the granule (∼25%), probably due to the denser structure of the granule reducing the accessibility of intestinal enzymes. The DH, peptide, and protein profiles of control and HHP-treated egg yolk showed similar protein digestion behaviors for both gastric and intestinal phases. Among the different proteins, only the digestibility of β-phosvitin in HHP-treated granule was enhanced. Consequently, applying HHP to granules represents an interesting process that improves the digestibility of phosvitin with the potential to generate bioactive phosvitin-derived phosphopeptides. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: High hydrostatic pressure, mainly used as a preservation process, did not impair the nutritional quality of the egg yolk and granule proteins but improved the susceptibility of phosvitin (protein contained in egg yolk) proteolysis to produce bioactive phosphopeptides. Consequently, applying HHP to granules represents an interesting process that improves the digestibility of phosvitin.

Imidacloprid (IMD), a neonicotinoid insecticide, is intensively used in agricultural fields for effective protection against aphids, cane beetles, thrips, stink bugs, locusts, etc., is causing serious environmental concerns. In recent years, seed treatment with Imidacloprid is being practiced mainly to prevent sucking insect pests. In India, due to the increase in application of this insecticide residue has been proven to have an impact on the quality of soil and water. In view of this, the current investigation is focussed on sustainable approach to minimize the residual effect of IMD in agricultural fields. The present study reveals a most promising imidacloprid resistant bacterium Lysinibacillus fusiformis IMD-Bio5 strain isolated from insecticide-contaminated soil. The isolated bacterial strain upon tested for its biodegradation potential on mineral salt medium (MSM) showed a significant survival growth at 150 g/L of IMD achieved after 3 days, whereas immobilized cells on MSM amended with 200 g/L of IMD as the sole carbon source provided degradation of 188 and 180 g/L of IMD in silica beads and sponge matrices, respectively. The liquid chromatography mass spectrometry was performed to test the metabolite responsive for IMD biodegradation potential of L. fusiformis IMD-Bio5 which showed the induced activity of the metabolite 6-Chloronicotinic acid. Furthermore, as compared to the untreated control, the Lysinibacillus fusiformis IMD-Bio5 protein profile revealed a range of patterns showing the expression of stress enzymes. Thus, results provided a most effective bacterium enabling the removal of IMD-like hazardous contaminants from the environment, which contributes to better agricultural production and soil quality, while long-term environmental advantages are restored.

We present data on the proteome of the Trypanosoma cruzi epimastigote cells overexpressing the U-rich RNA-binding protein 1 (UBP1). The role of this regulatory protein during the epimastigote-to-metacyclic trypomastigote stage transition was clearly established by our group at the transcriptome level; nevertheless, the impact of UBP1 overexpression on protein synthesis is not known. To address this question, we performed shotgun label-free quantification proteomics using an in vitro system based on the tetracycline-inducible expression of TcUBP1 and epimastigote wildtype cells. Using tryptic peptide digestion and LC-MS/MS analysis with Orbitrap technology, this data file describes the proteome of three biological samples per condition and yields 1637 correctly quantified proteins. The statistical comparisons of the two analyzed groups within the Proteome Discoverer platform identified 379 differentially expressed proteins, with 207 being up-regulated and 172 being down-regulated. In addition, profile plots and heatmap analysis to visualize the distribution of protein abundances within replicates are also presented. Data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD047761.

Microglia are a specialized population of innate immune cells located in the central nervous system. In response to physiological and pathological changes in their microenvironment, microglia can polarize into pro-inflammatory or anti-inflammatory phenotypes. A dysregulation in the pro-/anti-inflammatory balance is associated with many pathophysiological changes in the brain and nervous system. Therefore, the balance between microglia pro-/anti-inflammatory polarization can be a potential biomarker for the various brain pathologies. A non-invasive method of detecting microglia polarization in patients would have promising clinical applications. Here, we perform proteomic analysis of small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) derived from microglia cells to identify sEVs biomarkers indicative of pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory phenotypic changes. sEVs were isolated from microglia cell lines under different inflammatory conditions and analyzed by proteomics by liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry. Our findings provide the potential roles of sEVs that could be related to the pathogenesis of various brain diseases.

The proteins carried by the extracellular vesicles of Lactobacillus salivarius SNK-6 (LsEVs) were identified to provide a foundation for further explorations of the probiotic activities of L. salivarius SNK-6. LsEVs were isolated from the culture media of L. salivarius SNK-6 and morphological analysis was conducted by scanning electron microscopy. Subsequent transmission electron microscopy and nanoparticle tracking analysis were performed to assess the morphology and particle size of the LsEVs. In addition, the protein composition of LsEVs was analyzed using silver staining and protein mass spectrometry. Finally, internalization of the identified LsEVs was confirmed using a confocal microscope, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was employed to analyze the levels of inflammatory cytokines in LPS-challenged RAW264.7 cells. The results revealed that the membrane-enclosed LsEVs were spherical, with diameters ranging from 100-250 nm. The LsEVs with diameters of 111-256 nm contained the greatest amount of cargo. In total, 320 proteins (10-38 kD) were identified in the LsEVs and included anti-inflammatory molecules, such as PrtP proteinase, co-chaperones, and elongation factor Tu, as well as some proteins involved in glycolysis/gluconeogenesis, such as fructose-1,6-bisphosphate aldolase. Enrichment analysis showed these proteins to be related to the terms \"metabolic pathway,\" \"ribosome,\" \"glycolysis/gluconeogenesis,\" \"carbohydrate metabolism,\" and \"amino acid metabolism.\" Furthermore, the LsEVs were internalized by host liver cells and can regulate inflammation. These findings confirm that LsEVs contain various functional proteins that play important roles in energy metabolism, signal transduction, and biosynthesis.

Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) is a systemic disease manifestation of feline coronavirus (FCoV) and is the most important cause of infectious disease-related deaths in domestic cats. FIP has a variable clinical manifestation but is most often characterized by widespread vasculitis with visceral involvement and/or neurological disease that is typically fatal in the absence of antiviral therapy. Using an aptamer-based proteomics assay, we analyzed the plasma protein profiles of cats who were naturally infected with FIP (n = 19) in comparison to the plasma protein profiles of cats who were clinically healthy and negative for FCoV (n = 17) and cats who were positive for the enteric form of FCoV (n = 9). We identified 442 proteins that were significantly differentiable; in total, 219 increased and 223 decreased in FIP plasma versus clinically healthy cat plasma. Pathway enrichment and associated analyses showed that differentiable proteins were related to immune system processes, including the innate immune response, cytokine signaling, and antigen presentation, as well as apoptosis and vascular integrity. The relevance of these findings is discussed in the context of previous studies. While these results have the potential to inform diagnostic, therapeutic, and preventative investigations, they represent only a first step, and will require further validation.

BACKGROUND: It is increasingly recognized that conventional food production systems are not able to meet the globally increasing protein needs, resulting in overexploitation and depletion of resources, and environmental degradation. In this context, microbial biomass has emerged as a promising sustainable protein alternative. Nevertheless, often no consideration is given on the fact that the cultivation conditions affect the composition of microbial cells, and hence their quality and nutritional value. Apart from the properties and nutritional quality of the produced microbial food (ingredient), this can also impact its sustainability. To qualitatively assess these aspects, here, we investigated the link between substrate availability, growth rate, cell composition and size of Cupriavidus necator and Komagataella phaffii.
RESULTS: Biomass with decreased nucleic acid and increased protein content was produced at low growth rates. Conversely, high rates resulted in larger cells, which could enable more efficient biomass harvesting. The proteome allocation varied across the different growth rates, with more ribosomal proteins at higher rates, which could potentially affect the techno-functional properties of the biomass. Considering the distinct amino acid profiles established for the different cellular components, variations in their abundance impacts the product quality leading to higher cysteine and phenylalanine content at low growth rates. Therefore, we hint that costly external amino acid supplementations that are often required to meet the nutritional needs could be avoided by carefully applying conditions that enable targeted growth rates.
CONCLUSIONS: In summary, we demonstrate tradeoffs between nutritional quality and production rate, and we discuss the microbial biomass properties that vary according to the growth conditions.