Project description:Caddisworms (Trichoptera) spin adhesive silks to construct a variety of underwater composite structures. Many studies have focused on the fibroin heavy chain of caddisworm silk and found that it contains heavy phosphorylation to maintain a stable secondary structure. Besides fibroins, recent studies have also identified some new silk proteins within caddisworm silk. To better understand the silk composition and its secretion process, this study reports the silk gland proteome of a retreat-building caddisworm, Stenopsyche angustata. Using LC-MS/MS, 2389 proteins were identified in the silk gland of S. angustata, among which 192 were predicted as secreted silk proteins. Twenty-nine proteins were found to be enriched in the front silk gland, while 109 proteins were enriched in the caudal silk gland. The fibroin heavy chain and nine uncharacterized silk proteins were identified as phosphorylated proteins. By analyzing the sequence of the fibroin heavy chain, we found it contains 13 Gly/Thr/Pro-rich regions, 12 Val/Ser/Arg-rich regions, and a Gly/Arg/Thr-rich region. Three uncharacterized proteins were identified as sericin-like proteins due to having larger molecular weights, signal peptides, and repetitive motifs rich in serine. This study provides valuable information for further clarifying the secretion and adhesion of underwater caddisworm silk.
