Identification of peptide biomarkers for biogenic-amine-producing bacteria in seafood: a proteomic analysis

Abstract

In seafood, the Biogenic Amines (BAs) histamine, cadaverine, tyramine, putrescine, spermidine, and spermine are used as indicators for food spoilage. BAs are low-molecular-weight nitrogenous compounds principally generated by microbial decarboxylation of free amino acids or deamination/amination or transamination of aldehydes and ketones. The present investigation evaluates biogenic amine-producing bacteria responsible for the production of BAs in seafood by shotgun proteomics strategy to characterize 15 foodborne strains of biogenic-amine-producing bacteria. A total of 10,673 peptide spectrum matches belonging to 4081 peptides and corresponding to 1811 proteins were identified. Relevant functional pathways were determined, and strains were differentiated into hierarchical clusters. An expected protein-protein interaction network was created (260 nodes/1973 interactions). Most of the determined proteins were associated with networks/pathways of energy, putrescine metabolism, and host-virus interaction. Additionally, 556 peptides were identified as virulence factors. Moreover, 77 species-specific peptide biomarkers corresponding to 64 different proteins were proposed to identify 10 bacterial species. This represents a major proteomic dataset of biogenic-amine-producing strains. These results may also contribute to improving food quality and safety with the development of new treatments for food intoxication and for tracking microbial sources in foodstuffs