A study of selenoproteins in atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) using hyphenated mass spectrometry and bioinformatics

Selenium (Se) is an essential micronutrient for vertebrates and fish. Se is central to the function of selenoproteins, which play key roles in many biological functions including redox signaling, antioxidant defense, hormone metabolism, and immune responses. The number and expression levels of selenoproteins vary between different animal species with teleost fish featuring a much higher number of selenoproteins compared to vertebrates. While selenoproteomes have been well described for many species, a comprehensive analysis of selenoproteins in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) has yet to be performed. With recent advances in bioinformatics it has become possible to predict selenoproteins using computational tools; however, these in silico predictions description require validation through analytical data. In the present study we applied gel electrophoresis with subsequent use of laser ablation coupled to inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), and tryptic digestion with subsequent analysis with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled to both ICPMS and high-resolution tandem electrospray mass spectrometry (HR-ESI-MS) for the analysis of
selenooproteins. Furthermore, we set out to combine theoretical selenoprotein predictions with hyphenated analytical techniques to characterize the selenoproteome of salmon liver tissue. The results and challenges related to the analytical work will be presented and the presentation will show how bioinformatics data can be combined with analytical data to study selenoproteomes in fish.