Ribosomal protein library of different microbial species

Ribosomal proteins are often investigated for their structural and functional roles in ribosome function. This is of particular importance given that an ensemble of tens of ribosomal proteins cooperatively help constitute the complex molecular dance during protein translation. But, what is less often known is the phylogenetic significance of ribosomal proteins. For example, in an approach named mass spectrometry enabled microbial identification, ribosomal proteins could serve as biomarkers for peaks in mass spectrum of microbial whole cells since they are generally of high abundance in a cell. Known as a proteome database search approach where biomarker mass peaks are actively sought to help identify a microorganism, building of a comprehensive library of ribosomal proteins from different microbial species is a must. This work sought to provide the first steps towards this goal by collating a catalogue of ribosomal proteins from different microbial species from bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes. Each set of ribosomal proteins from a specific microbial species are labelled with the name of the species that help in downstream identification process. Besides protein name and amino acid sequence, each entry in the library also comprises molecular weight, number of residues, and nucleotide sequence of the ribosomal proteins, where molecular weight is critical for annotating biomarker mass peaks. Identification of biomarker mass peaks thus identify a microbial species. Overall, use of proteome database search approach for mass spectrometry-based microbial identification is hampered by lack of suitable open-source ribosomal protein database. Effort outlined in this abstract hope to kickstart the effort to collate a comprehensive ribosomal protein library of different microbial species in bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes to help improve adoption of the fast and straightforward approach of using mass spectrometry for routine identification of common microorganisms in research and clinical settings.