First analysis of the secretome of the canine heartworm, Dirofilaria immitis.

Background: The characterization of proteins released from filariae is an important step in addressing many of the needs in the diagnosis and treatment of these clinically important parasites, as well as contributing to a clearer understanding of their biology. This report describes findings on the proteins released during in vitro cultivation of adult Dirofilaria immitis , the causative agent of canine and feline heartworm disease. Differences in protein secretion among nematodes in vivo may relate to the ecological niche of each parasite and the pathological changes that they induce.

Low-coverage massively parallel pyrosequencing of cDNAs enables proteomics in non-model species: comparison of a species-specific database generated by pyrosequencing with databases from related species for proteome analysis of pea chloroplast envelopes.

Proteomics is a valuable tool for establishing and comparing the protein content of defined tissues, cell types, or subcellular structures. Its use in non-model species is currently limited because the identification of peptides critically depends on sequence databases. In this study, we explored the potential of a preliminary cDNA database for the non-model species Pisum sativum created by a small number of massively parallel pyrosequencing (MPSS) runs for its use in proteomics and compared it to comprehensive cDNA databases from Medicago truncatula and Arabidopsis thaliana created by Sanger sequencing.