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Large-Scale Label-Free Quantitative Proteomics Of The Pea Aphid-Buchnera Symbiosis, Anton Poliakov, Calum W. Russell, Lalit Ponnala, Harold J. Hoops, Qi Sun, Angela E. Douglas, Klaas J. Van Wijk, K.J.

Biology

Many insects are nutritionally dependent on symbiotic microorganisms that have tiny genomes and are housed in specialized host cells called bacteriocytes. The obligate symbiosis between the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum and the γ-proteobacterium Buchnera aphidicola (only 584 predicted proteins) is particularly amenable for molecular analysis because the genomes of both partners have been sequenced. To better define the symbiotic relationship between this aphid and Buchnera, we used large-scale, high accuracy tandem mass spectrometry (nanoLC-LTQ-Orbtrap) to identify aphid and Buchnera proteins in the whole aphid body, purified bacteriocytes, isolated Buchnera cells and the residual bacteriocyte fraction. More than 1900 aphid and …