Comparison of thiol subproteome of the vent mussel Bathymodiolus azoricus from different Mid-Atlantic Ridge vent sites

Deep-sea hydrothermal mussels Bathymodiolus azoricus live in the mixing zone where hydrothermal fluid mixes with bottom seawater, creating large gradients in the environmental conditions and are one of the most studied hydrothermal species as a model of adaptation to extreme conditions. Thiol proteins, i.e. proteins containing a thiol or sulfhydryl group (SH) play major roles in intracellular stress defense against reactive oxygen species (ROS) and are especially susceptible to oxidation. However, they are not particularly abundant, representing a small percentage of proteins in the total proteome and therefore are difficult to study by proteomic approaches. Activated thiol sepharose (ATS) …