Identification of Drosophila salivary gland secreted proteins through LC-MS/MS

As we observed that salivary gland ablation induced retardation of systemic growth, it raised the possibility that salivary glands might secrete a growth factor-like peptide into the hemolymph to regulate systemic growth. To identify potential salivary gland-derived peptides with endocrine activity, we performed liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) analysis and investigated the changes in the hemolymph proteome following salivary gland ablation.