Proteomic Analysis of the Lake Trout (Salvelinus namaycush) Heart and Blood: the beginning of a comprehensive lake trout protein database

Lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) are a top-predator species in the Laurentian Great Lakes that are often used as bioindicators of chemical stressors in the ecosystem. Although many studies are done using these fish to determine concentrations of stressors like legacy persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic chemicals, there are currently no proteomic studies on the biological effects these stressors have on the ecosystem. This lack of proteomic studies on Great Lakes lake trout is because there is currently no complete, comprehensive protein database for this species. In this research, we aimed to use proteomic methods and established protein databases from NCBI and UniProtKB to identify potential proteins in the lake trout species. The current study utilized heart tissue and blood from two separate lake trout. Our previous published work on the lake trout liver revealed 4,194 potential protein hits in the NCBI databases and 3,811 potential protein hits in the UniProtKB databases. In the current study, using the NCBI databases we identified 838 potential protein hits for the heart and 580 potential protein hits for the blood of the first lake trout (biological replicate 1). In the second lake trout (biological replicate 2), using the NCBI databases we identified 1,180 potential protein hits for the heart and 561 potential protein hits for the blood. Similar results were obtained using the UniProtKB databases. This study builds on our previous work by continuing to build the first comprehensive lake trout protein database. Through this investigation, we are also able to make observations as to protein homology through evolutionary relationships.