Characterization of planktonic and biofilm cells from two filamentous cyanobacteria using a shotgun proteomic approach

Abstract

Cyanobacteria promote marine biofouling with significant impacts. A qualitative proteomic analysis, by LC-MS/MS, of planktonic and biofilm cells from two cyanobacteria was performed. Biofilms were formed on glass and perspex at two relevant hydrodynamic conditions for marine environments (average shear rates of 4 s⁻¹ and 40 s⁻¹). For both strains and surfaces, biofilm development was higher at 4 s⁻¹. Biofilm development of Nodosilinea sp. LEGE 06145 was substantially higher than Nodosilinea sp. LEGE 06119, but no significant differences were found between surfaces. Overall, 377 and 301 different proteins were identified for Nodosilinea sp. LEGE 06145 and Nodosilinea sp. LEGE 06119. Differences in protein composition were more noticeable in biofilms formed under different hydrodynamic conditions than in those formed on different surfaces. Ribosomal and photosynthetic proteins were identified in most conditions. The characterization performed gives new insights into how shear rate and surface affect the planktonic to biofilm transition, from a structural and proteomics perspective.

Keywords:

• Marine biofouling
• cyanobacterial biofilms
• shotgun proteomics
• LC-MS/MS
• hydrodynamic conditions
• real-time imaging
• optical coherence tomography

Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by: Base Funding - UIDB/00511/2020 of the Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy – LEPABE, funded by national funds through the FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC) and by the CVMAR + i – Industrial Innovation and Marine Biotechnology Valorisation, funded by INTERREG V A Espanha Portugal (POCTEP) [0302_CVMAR_I_1_P] and strategic funding UIDB/04423/2020 and UIDP/04423/2020 through national funds provided by FCT and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), in the framework of the programme PT2020. M.J.R. acknowledges a PhD grant from FCT (SFRH/BD/140080/2018).

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.