Abstract
Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is a common cause of diarrhea in humans and livestock. In this study, isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) combined with multidimensional liquid chromatography (LC) and MS analysis was used for screening the differentially expressed proteins in piglet jejunum after ETEC infection. Totally 1,897 proteins were identified with quantitative information in piglet jejunum. We identified 92 differentially expressed proteins in ETEC-induced diarrhea, of which 30 were up regulated and 62 down regulated. Most of the differentially expressed proteins were involved in intestinal function of binding, metabolic process, catalytic activity and immune responses. The inhibition of intestinal immune responses in the jejunum in ETEC-induced diarrhea was also validated by immunobloting and RT-PCR. Our study is the first attempt to analyze the protein profile of ETEC-infected piglets by quantitative proteomics, and our findings could provide valuable information with respect to better understanding the host response to ETEC infection.