Effects of poly-ether B on proteome and phosphoproteome expression in biofouling Balanus amphitrite cyprids

Abstract

Biofouling is ubiquitous in marine environments, and the barnacle Balanus amphitrite is one of the most recalcitrant and aggressive biofoulers in tropical waters. Several natural antifoulants that were claimed to be non-toxic have been isolated in recent years, although the mechanism by which they inhibit fouling is yet to be investigated. Poly-ether B has shown promise in the non-toxic inhibition of larval barnacle attachment. Hence, in this study, multiplex two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) was applied in conjunction with mass spectrometry to investigate the effects of poly-ether B on barnacle larvae at the molecular level. The cyprid proteome response to poly-ether B treatment was analyzed at the total proteome and phosphoproteome levels, with 65 protein and 19 phosphoprotein spots found to be up- or down-regulated. The proteins were found to be related to energy-metabolism, oxidative stress, and molecular chaperones, thus indicating that poly-ether B may interfere with the redox-regulatory mechanisms governing the settlement of barnacle larvae. The results of this study demonstrate the usefulness of the proteomic technique in revealing the working mechanisms of antifouling compounds.

Keywords:

• antifouling
• barnacle
• poly-ether
• proteome
• 2DE

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Ms Cherry Kwan for proof reading this manuscript, Dr Wu Huixiang for her kind help with the barnacle culture, Dr Wang Yong for help in the preparation of the figures and Dr Ying Xu for her helpful suggestions. The study was supported by an award (SA-C0040/UK-C0016) from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), a grant from the China Ocean Mineral Resources Research and Development Association (DY125-15-T-02), and two grants (N_HKUST602/09 and AoE/P-393 04/04-2-II) from the Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC) awarded to PY Qian.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Pei-Yuan Qian

The first two authors contributed equally to the paper.