Project description:Sponges (Porifera) are early-branching Metazoa who do not possess muscles or neurons, however are able to undergo a whole-body movement that involves the closure of their canal system and collapse of an epithelial tent. In this study we profile proteomic responses of the freshwater sponge Spongilla lacustris during nitric oxide (NO) and agitation induced movements to elucidate the early evolution of coordination. Specifically, we measure condition-dependent changes in protein thermal stability and abundance using Thermal proteome profiling (TPP). These changes are the result of proteins undergoing stabilizing or destabilizing conformational changes broadly caused by e.g. the binding or dissociation of small molecules to the proteins, the formation or loss of protein-protein interactions or a change in post-translational modifications.
Project description:Sponges (Porifera) are early-branching Metazoa who do not posess muscles or neurons, however are able to undergo a whole-body movement that involves the closure of their canal system and collapse of an epithelial tent. In this study we profile proteomic responses of the freshwater sponge Spongilla lacustris during agitation induced movements to elucidate the early evolution of coordination. Results from Thermal Proteome Profiling (TPP) experiments of agitated sponges suggest active secretion during the movement. Here, we use tandem mass tag (TMT) labeling-based quantification of proteins in the medium to systematically measure quantitative differences of secretion before and after agitation induced movement. In total, 146 proteins were detected in the medium, 47 of which were significantly upregulated during the movement.
