Detection of Zn-containing proteins in slug (Genus Arion) tissue using laser ablation ICP-MS after separation by gel electrophoresis

Assessing the inventory of biological systems in respect to metal species is a growing area of life science research called metallomics. Slugs are of special interest as monitor organisms for environmental contaminations. Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) was applied to map the distribution of total Zn in a section of a slug sample and to detect Zn-containing proteins after one-dimensional separation by gel electrophoresis (Blue Native PAGE). Interestingly, by far the largest fraction of protein bound Zn was explained by three sharp and prominent bands at 75,100 and 150 kDa. Analysis of tryptic digests of selected bands using MALDI-TOF-MS and public databases failed to identify proteins within the Zn bands what may be due to coverage gaps concerning the species anon ater. Three non-Zn containing bands could be assigned to proteins known from other mollusc species. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved