Native isoelectric focusing (IEF) of water-soluble sarcoplasmic proteins was applied to the identification of 14 shrimp species of food interest belonging to the order Decapoda. These species have different commercial values, but due to their phenotypic similarities and carapace removal in their industrial processing, incorrect food labelling and deliberate or inadvertent adulteration can occur. Each of the 14 tested species showed species-specific protein band profiles and intra-specific polymorphism was low, not preventing the correct identification of the species. Therefore, IEF of water-soluble sarcoplasmic proteins allowed the differentiation of the 14 species considered. In addition, sarcoplasmic calcium-binding proteins (SCPs) were identified by tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) as the major species-specific proteins in these species, opening the way to further studies focusing on their potential use as specific biomarkers

This work was supported by the National Food Program of the INIA (Spanish Ministry for Education and Science) (Project CAL-03-030-C2-2) and by the PGIDIT Research Program in Marine Resources (Project PGIDIT04RMA261004PR) of the Xunta de Galicia (Galician Council for Industry, Commerce and Innovation). I.O. is supported by the FPU program (AP-2004-5826) and B.C. is supported by the RyC program, under the auspices of the Spanish MICINN.

6 páginas, 3 figuras, 3 tablas

Peer reviewed