Vibrio parahaemolyticus was induced into viable but nonculturable (VBNC) state by food preservative at low temperature and oligotrophic condition. The aim of this study is to screen differentially expressed proteins of VBNC state and exponential phase of V. parahaemolyticus using isobaric rags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) combined with LC/MS. Functional annotations of unigenes were analyzed using protein sequence similarity, KEGG pathway and GO analysis. The results showed that only 40~45 days V. parahaemolyticus could induce into VBNC state at 4 ℃ in seawater containing 10 mmol/L potassium sorbate. A total of 135,880 proteins, including 1,088 unique proteins were identified. Of the quantitatively different proteins under the VBNC state, 15 were significantly up-regulated and 36 were down-regulated. The up-regulated expressed proteins were mainly focused on outer membrane protein, transporter proteins, ferritin and other key components involved in metabolism. This study provided basis for understanding the mechanism of adaptation of the VBNC state of V. parahaemolyticus.