GeLC-MS-based proteomics of Chromobacterium violaceum: comparison of proteome changes elicited by hydrogen peroxide

Chromobacterium violaceum is a free-living bacillus with several genes that enables it survival under different harsh environments such as oxidative and temperature stresses. Here we performed a label-free quantitative proteomic study to unravel the molecular mechanisms that enable C. violaceum to survive oxidative stress. To achieve this, total proteins extracted from control and C. violaceum cultures exposed during two hours with 8 mM hydrogen peroxide were analyzed using GeLC-MS proteomics. Analysis revealed that under the stress condition, the bacterium expressed proteins that protected it from the damage caused by reactive oxygen condition and decreasing the abundance of proteins responsible for bacterial growth and catabolism. GeLC-MS proteomics analysis provided an overview of the metabolic pathways involved in the response of C. violaceum to oxidative stress ultimately aggregating knowledge of the response of this organism to environmental stress. This study identified approximately 1500 proteins, generating the largest proteomic coverage of C. violaceum so far. We also detected proteins with unknown function that we hypothesize to be part of new mechanisms related to oxidative stress defense. Finally, we identified the mechanism of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR), which has not yet been reported for this organism.