Identification of the Major Allergen in Greasy-Back Shrimp （Metapenaeus ensis） by MALDI-TOF-MS

Identification of the major allergen in greasy-back shrimp (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Metapenaeus ensis</Emphasis>) by MALDI-TOF-MS

In order to better understand shrimp allergen,some basic characters of the major allergen of greasy-back shrimp (Metapenaeus ensis)were investigated.The major allergen was extracted and separated,and its peptide mass fingerprint(PMF) was analyzed using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry(MALDI-TOF-MS).After screening in the NCBI database with Mascot searching engine,the results indicated that the major allergen of greasy-back shirmp was muscle tropomyosin.Database matching search showed that the top protein matched,i.e.the tropomyosin from giant tiger prawn(Penaeus monodon),had a Mowse value of 268.In addition,there were 27 queries matched with the allergen in greasy-back shirmp with an amino acid sequence coverage value of 65%.The matching scores and the sequence coverage values were also high with tropomyosins of other invertebrates,including Tyrophagus putrescentiae and Lepisma saccharina.These results indicated that the allergen of Metapenaeus ensis had high homology with other crustacean allergens,and provided molecular explanations for the high cross-reactivity of the major allergens between crustaceans and some other invertebrates.