Characterization of mouse saliva proteome

There are a wide variety of salivary proteins in mammals playing diverse roles such as lubrification, protection against microorganisms, mouth pH maintenance, digestion, protection against dietary astringent compounds, etc. Whole saliva proteome as only been described for humans, although a multitude of salivary proteins have been described for other mammals. The goal of this work is to describe saliva proteome map of the common laboratory mouse, BALB/c strain, an important model organism, using 2D electrophoreis and Peptide Mass Fingerprint identification based on MALDI-TOF MS data. With this information we are triyng to adress the mechanisms of defence against aggressive dietary compounds such as tannins, compounds are present in plants and seeds. These mechanisms involve changes in the expression of salivary proteins, in particular of proline-rich proteins (PRP’s), proteins that bind tannins. The expected results might also be important in the understanding of feeding behaviors of other herbivore mammals, such as sheep or goat.

Salivary proteins; 2DE; Maldi-Tof MS.