Name: the determination of protease specificity in mouse tissue extracts by maldi-tof mass spectrometry: manipulating ph to cause specificity changes
Uploaded: 2018-05-25T13:30:00
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about The Determination of Protease Specificity in Mouse Tissue Extracts by MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry: Manipulating PH to Cause Specificity Changes at JoVE.com

This work was supported in part by the Nihon Pharmaceutical University Research Grant from Nihon Pharmaceutical University (2016) and the MEXT KAKENHI Grant Number JP17854179.

Animal experimental protocols were approved by the Nihon Pharmaceutical University&#39;s ethics committee and performed in accordance with the guidelines for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals of the Nihon Pharmaceutical University. The protocol has been adjusted for tissue extracts derived from ICR&#160;mice. ICR mice were purchased from Nippon SLC Ltd. (Shizuoka, Japan)
1. Preparation of the Iminobiotin-labeled Substrate
The substrate undergoes solid-phase synth...

<ol>
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R. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Enhanced+detection+of+casein+zymography+of+matrix+metalloproteinases.">Enhanced detection of casein zymography of matrix metalloproteinases.</a> Anal Biochem. 224 (1), 434-435 (1995).</li><li>Erlanger, B. F., Kokowsky, N., Cohen, W. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=The+preparation+and+properties+of+two+new+chromogenic+substrates+of+trypsin.">The preparation and properties of two new chromogenic substrates of trypsin.</a> Arch Biochem Biophys. 95, 271-278 (1961).</li><li>Smith, R. E., Bissell, E. R., Mitchell, A. R., Pearson, K. W. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Direct+photometric+or+fluorometric+assay+of+proteinases+using+substrates+containing+7-amino-4-trifluoromethylcoumarin.">Direct photometric or fluorometric assay of proteinases using substrates containing 7-amino-4-trifluoromethylcoumarin.</a> Thromb Res. 17 (3-4), 393-402 (1980).</li><li>Latt, S. A., Auld, D. S., Vallee, B. L. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Fluorescende+determination+of+carboxypeptidase+A+activity+based+on+electronic+energy+transfer.">Fluorescende determination of carboxypeptidase A activity based on electronic energy transfer.</a> Anal Biochem. 50 (1), 56-62 (1972).</li><li>Timmer, J. C., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Profiling+constitutive+proteolytic+events+in+vivo.">Profiling constitutive proteolytic events in vivo.</a> Biochem J. 407 (1), 41-48 (2007).</li><li>Biniossek, M. 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M. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Iminobiotin+affinity+columns+and+their+application+to+retrieval+of+streptavidin.">Iminobiotin affinity columns and their application to retrieval of streptavidin.</a> Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 77 (8), 4666-4668 (1980).</li><li>Merrifield, R. B. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Solid+Phase+Peptide+Synthesis.+I.+The+synthesis+of+a+tetrapeptide.">Solid Phase Peptide Synthesis. I. The synthesis of a tetrapeptide.</a> J. Am. Chem. Soc. 85, 2149-2154 (1963).</li><li>Hancock, W. S., Battersby, J. E. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=A+new+micro-test+for+the+detection+of+incomplete+coupling+reactions+in+solid-phase+peptide+synthesis+using+2,4,6-trinitrobenzenesulphonic+acid.">A new micro-test for the detection of incomplete coupling reactions in solid-phase peptide synthesis using 2,4,6-trinitrobenzenesulphonic acid.</a> Anal. Biochem. 71, 260-264 (1976).</li><li>Marttila, A. 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This protocol uses MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry to identify protease specificity in crude samples derived from tissue extracts and may easily be scaled up for multiple sample processing. In particular, we manipulated pH to cause a change in substrate specificity.
The avidin-biotin complex (ABC) method, which has been widely used in biochemistry due to its binding specificity, was utilized in our protocol. Due to the strong affinity of ABC, the binding of avidin to biotin is almost irreversible....

Proteases regulate physiological processes by cleaving proteins, and the initiation of protease activity at specific times and locations is regulated1. It is therefore important to identify the expression and activity of tissues that are locally regulated, and to develop a novel method to detect proteases. The method proposed in this study aims to identify protease specificity in parallel to detecting proteases.
There are some methods for detecting protease specificity. The azocasein method is well-known for its use in the detection of proteases2 but is limited in its ability to obtain further information. Zymography is another comprehensive protease detection method that can be used to determine the molecular weight of proteases3, but it cannot be used to examine substrate specificity. Protease specificity can be determined by spectrometric assays, using substrates such as p-nitroanilide4, and fluorometric assays, using coumarin substrates5 or Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) assays6. These methods enable single-specificity detection of substrates contained in a single well. In the present study, the protease specificity of tissue extracts is examined under various conditions, as these extracts contain multiple proteases. Protease activity is regulated by several factors, including pH, coenzymes, prosthetic groups, and ion strength. Recently, proteomics-based methods have been used to identify protease specificity; for example, the method reported by Biniossek et al.7 uses the proteome to determine substrate specificity even in crude extracts and allows accurate determination of the cleavage activity of proteases that recognize multiple amino acid sequences8. However, this method is not suitable for the analysis of numerous samples. In contrast, our method enables the simultaneous processing of multiple samples, and the use of Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time-of-Flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry for sample analysis facilitates rapid and easy detection of the cleaved substrates.
This paper outlines a method to evaluate protease specificity by using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry to measure the molecular weight of unique substrates. The molecular forms of cleaved substrates, along with their theoretical molecular weights, are shown in Figure 1 and Table 1. Previous studies have used substrates containing polyglycine spacers and biotin9; however, these substrates are flawed because the polyglycine sequence may be cleaved by enzymes that recognize the glycine sequence. Additionally, the high affinity between avidin and biotin may lead to a low recovery rate. To improve upon these drawbacks, in this study we synthesized a unique substrate, which was composed of polyethylene glycol (PEG), iminobiotin, and an amino acid that could identify the cleavage site (Figure 1). To discriminate between amino acids of similar molecular weights, D-serine was added between the PEG spacer and the amino acid at the cleaved site.
The N-terminal of the substrate was labeled with iminobiotin, which enables affinity purification from crude samples. The use of iminobiotin instead of biotin is critical; biotin has a strong affinity with avidin, which results in low recovery rates of biotin-labeled substrates from avidin resin, while iminobiotin&#39;s affinity for avidin can be altered by pH. Iminobiotin-labeled substrates will bind to avidin in conditions above pH 9, while avidin releases iminobiotin-labeled substrates in conditions below pH 4. Therefore, iminobiotin was used for affinity purification10. In summary, we describe a detailed protocol for detecting protease specificity using unique substrates.

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>Fmoc-NH-SAL Resin(-[2,4-Dimethoxyphenyl-N-(9-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl)aminomethyl]phenoxy resin)</td>
			<td>Watanabe Chemical Co., Ltd.</td>
			<td>A00102</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF)</td>
			<td>Watanabe Chemical Co., Ltd.</td>
			<td>A00185</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>piperidine</td>
			<td>Watanabe Chemical Co., Ltd.</td>
			<td>A00176</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid (TNBS)</td>
			<td>WAKO Chemical</td>
			<td>209-1483</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>O-(6-Chloro-1H-benzotriazol-1-yl)-N,N,N&#39;,N&#39;-tetramethyluronium hexafluorophosphate (HCTU)</td>
			<td>Watanabe Chemical Co., Ltd.</td>
			<td>A00067</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>1-Hydroxy-1H-benzotriazole,monohydrate (HOBt)</td>
			<td>Watanabe Chemical Co., Ltd.</td>
			<td>A00014</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>diisopropylethylamine (DIPEA)</td>
			<td>Watanabe Chemical Co., Ltd.</td>
			<td>A00030</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>triisopropylsilane (TIS)</td>
			<td>Watanabe Chemical Co., Ltd.</td>
			<td>A00170</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>ethanedithiol (EDT)</td>
			<td>Watanabe Chemical Co., Ltd.</td>
			<td>A00057</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>trifluoroacetic acid (TFA)</td>
			<td>Millipore</td>
			<td>S6612278 403</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>acetonitrile</td>
			<td>Kokusan Chemical</td>
			<td>2153025</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>C18 cartridge column</td>
			<td>Waters</td>
			<td>WAT051910</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>poly(oxyethylene) octylphenyl ether</td>
			<td>WAKO Chemical</td>
			<td>168-11805</td>
			<td>Triton X-100</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>mixing homogenizer</td>
			<td>Kinematica</td>
			<td>PT3100</td>
			<td>polytron homogenizer</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Coomassie Brilliant Blue (CBB) -G250</td>
			<td>Nakarai Chemical</td>
			<td>094-09</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>glycerol</td>
			<td>Nakarai Chemical</td>
			<td>170-18</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>N-tosyl-L-phenylalanine chloromethyl ketone (TPCK)-trypsin</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>T1426</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)</td>
			<td>WAKO Chemical</td>
			<td>043-07216</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>streptavidin sepharose</td>
			<td>GE Healthcare</td>
			<td>17-511-01</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>ZipTipC18</td>
			<td>Millipore</td>
			<td>ZTC18S096</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>&#945;-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid (CHCA)</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>C2020</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry</td>
			<td>Bruker Daltonics, Germany</td>
			<td>autoflex</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>2-iminobiotin</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>I4632</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Fmoc-amino acids</td>
			<td>Watanabe Chemical Co., Ltd.</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

the determination of protease specificity in mouse tissue extracts by maldi-tof mass spectrometry: manipulating ph to cause specificity changes

Proteases have several biological functions, including protein activation/inactivation and food digestion. Identifying protease specificity is important for revealing protease function. The method proposed in this study determines protease specificity by measuring the molecular weight of unique substrates using Matrix-assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time-of-Flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry. The substrates contain iminobiotin, while the cleaved site consists of amino acids, and the spacer consists of polyethylene glycol. The cleaved substrate will generate a unique molecular weight using a cleaved amino acid. One of the merits of this method is that it may be carried out in one pot using crude samples, and it is also suitable for assessing multiple samples. In this article, we describe a simple experimental method optimized with samples extracted from mouse lung tissue, including tissue extraction, placement of digestive substrates into samples, purification of digestive substrates under different pH conditions, and measurement of the substrates&#39; molecular weight using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. In summary, this technique allows for the identification of protease specificity in crude samples derived from tissue extracts using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, which may easily be scaled up for multiple sample processing.

Evaluation of the method for identification of protease specificity by model protease
The efficiency of this system was evaluated using TPCK-trypsin and V8 protease, whose substrate specificities were obtained. TPCK-trypsin and V8 protease were estimated to cleave the amino acid sequence at the C-terminal of the lysine and arginine residues, and at the carboxy side of the aspartic acid and glutamic acid residues, respectively. <str...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about The Determination of Protease Specificity in Mouse Tissue Extracts by MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry: Manipulating PH to Cause Specificity Changes at JoVE.com

The Determination of Protease Specificity in Mouse Tissue Extracts by MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry: Manipulating PH to Cause Specificity Changes

Here, we present a protocol to determine protease specificity in crude mouse tissue extracts using MALDI-TOF spectrometry.

Proteases have several biological functions, including protein activation/inactivation and food digestion. Identifying protease specificity is important ...

The overall goal of this experiment, is to determine protease specificity in multiple crude extracts. This method can help answer key questions to determine protease specificity. The main advantage of this technique, is that it can identify protease specificity of multiple samples in parlay.Cool lung tissue samples obtained from male ICR mice in ice. Homogenize the samples at 20, 000 RMP for 30 seconds in a blender. Repeat this step until the samples are completely homogenous.Do not homogenize for more than one minute continuously in order to avoid an increase in temperature. Transfer 1, 000 microliters of the homogenate to a 1.5 milliliter tube and centrifuge for five minutes at 10, 000 times G at four degrees Celsius. Transfer 500 microliters of the supernatant to a new 1.5 milliliter plastic tube.Use 10 microliters of the sample to determine the protein concentration. Using methods, such as the bicinchoninic acid assay or the Bradford assay. To prevent freezing, add 80%glycerol to the samples for a final concentration of 50%glycerol.To clarify the difference in protease specificity depending on the pH, use digestion buffers adjusted to pH three, five, seven, and nine. Into 890 microliter of a digestion buffer, add either 10 microliters of 0.1 microgram per microliter or TPCK trypsin, 0.1 microgram per microliter of staphylococcus aureus V8 protease, or 10 micrograms per microliter of tissue extracts. Prepare negative controls by inactivating protease in tissue extracts by incubation and boiling water for 10 minutes.Next, add 10 microliters of MNO biotin label substrates to the samples and incubate for three hours at 37 degrees Celsius to digest. After incubation, stop the digestion of substrates with boiling water for 10 minutes. Centrifuge the digested substrates for five minutes at 10, 000 times G at four degrees Celsius.Transfer the supernatant into a new 1.5 milliliter tube. Add 50 milliliter of 50%streptavidin sepharose beads in one molar tris buffer, containing 0.1%polyoxyethylene octyl phenyl ether. Use pH test paper to ensure that the solution is around pH nine.It is important to adjust the proper pH to nine or more. Amino biotin cannot bite a beading unless it is pH nine or higher. If the pH of the solution is low, adjust it to approximately pH nine by adding more buffer.Additionally one molar tris buffer can be added to bring up the pH if needed. Incubate the suspension overnight at four degrees Celsius with continuous gentle mixing on a rotator wheel to bind the MNO biotin labeled substrates to the streptavidin. The beads should remain suspended throughout the incubation.The following day, centrifuge the samples for one minute at 10, 000 times G at four degrees Celsius. After removing the supernatant, wash the beads by adding 1, 000 microliters of a wash buffer. Then, incubate for 10 minutes at four degrees Celsius with continuous gentle mixing on a rotator.Centrifuge the beads for one minute at 10, 000 times G at four degrees Celsius. Remove the supernatant and repeat this wash four times. Next, add 100 microliters of 0.2%trifluoroacetic acid to the beads.Use pH test paper to ensure that the solution is below pH two. If the pH of the solution is high, adjust the pH to below two by adding 1%trifluoroacetic acid. Incubate the suspension for 30 minutes at room temperature with continuous gentle mixing on a rotator wheel.After centrifuging the beads as before, transfer the supernatant to a new 1.5 milliliter tube. Pipet 20 microliters of acetonitrile onto a C18 resin to activate it. Remove the used acetonitrile and repeat this activation step three times.Then, equilibrate the C18 resin with 20 microliters of 0.1%trifluoroacetic acid. Remove the eluant and repeat this equilibration step three times. to load the samples, bind them to the resin using a pipet.Wash the resin with 20 microliters of 0.1%trifluoroacetic acid. Repeat this step five times. Elute the samples with three microliters of 60%acetonitrile in 0.1%trifluoroacetic acid.Pipet the eluant on a target plate for MALDI-TOF mass spectromitry. Immediately add CHCA solution, saturated in 50%acetonitrile in 0.1%trifluoroacetic acid. Crystallize the mixture by air drying.Acquire mass spectra of samples, according to the instrument manufacturer's protocol, paying close attention to the mass spectra from 700 to 900 daltons for the cleaved form of the biotin labels substrates. Mass spectra of synthetic substrates are shown here. Peaks corresponding to the precursor molecular weight were detected between 850 and 1, 050.The cleaved fragments are detected in the range of 700 to 850. Shown here are the spectra for MNO biotin labeled substrates treated with TPCK trypsin. The 839.81 dalton and 796.76 dalton peaks correspond to the fragments cleaved from the C terminus of lysine and arginine respectively.Shown here are the mass spectra of synthetic substrates digested with V8 protease. The 769.78 dalton and 755.62 dalton peaks correspond to the fragments cleaved from the C terminus of glutamic acid and aspartic acid respectively. The spectra for MNO biotin labels substrates treated with a lung tissue extract at various pH conditions are shown here.In the acidic condition, at pH five, the molecular weight of a cleaved fragment was 770.13 daltons and 826.66 daltons, indicating cleavage at the C terminus of glutamic acid and tryptophan. In the neutral and basic condition, at pH seven and nine, the molecular weight of a cleaved fragment was increased at the peak of 767 daltons and 840 daltons, indicating cleaved at the C terminus of arginine and lysine. Conversely, the peaks of the glutamic acid and tryptophan were decreased.In addition, this method cannot detect cleaved fragments with inactivated extracts. Once mastered, this technique can be done in two days if it is performed properly, except for the synthesis of substrate. Additionally, once the substrate is synthesized, it can be measured in several samples.Why?Attempting this procedure, it's important to remember to operate at the buffer pH, about nine. Generally, the reaction of the avidin amino biotin complex. Following this procedure, it is possible to quantify enzyme activity by performing a CMS.This method will allow researchers in the proteon field to pave the way for exploring protease expression in several conditions.

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Biochemistry

Species Determination and Quantitation in Mixtures Using MRM Mass Spectrometry of Peptides Applied to Meat Authentication

We describe a simple protocol for identifying and quantifying the two components in binary mixtures of species possessing one or more similar proteins. Central to the method is the identification of 'corresponding proteins' in the species of interest, in other words proteins that are nominally the same but possess species-specific sequence differences. When subject to proteolysis, corresponding proteins will give rise to some peptides which are likewise similar but with species-specific variants. These are 'corresponding peptides'. Species-specific peptides can be used as markers for species determination, while pairs of corresponding peptides permit relative quantitation of two species in a mixture. The peptides are detected using multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mass spectrometry, a highly specific technique that enables peptide-based species determination even in complex systems. In addition, the ratio of MRM peak areas deriving from corresponding peptides supports relative quantitation. Since corresponding proteins and peptides will, in the main, behave similarly in both processing and in experimental extraction and sample preparation, the relative quantitation should remain comparatively robust. In addition, this approach does not need the standards and calibrations required by absolute quantitation methods. The protocol is described in the context of red meats, which have convenient corresponding proteins in the form of their respective myoglobins. This application is relevant to food fraud detection: the method can detect 1% weight for weight of horse meat in beef. The corresponding protein, corresponding peptide (CPCP) relative quantitation using MRM peak area ratios gives good estimates of the weight for weight composition of a horse plus beef mixture.

We present a protocol for identifying and quantifying the components in mixtures of species possessing similar proteins. Mass spectrometry detects peptides for identification, and gives relative quantitation by ratios of peak areas. As a tool food for fraud detection, the method can detect 1% horse in beef.

We describe a simple protocol for identifying and quantifying the two components in binary mixtures of species possessing one or more similar proteins. ...

Time-resolved ElectroSpray Ionization Hydrogen-deuterium Exchange Mass Spectrometry for Studying Protein Structure and Dynamics

Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) have long been a challenge to structural biologists due to their lack of stable secondary structure elements. Hydrogen-Deuterium Exchange (HDX) measured at rapid time scales is uniquely suited to detect structures and hydrogen bonding networks that are briefly populated, allowing for the characterization of transient conformers in native ensembles. Coupling of HDX to mass spectrometry offers several key advantages, including high sensitivity, low sample consumption and no restriction on protein size. This technique has advanced greatly in the last several decades, including the ability to monitor HDX labeling times on the millisecond time scale. In addition, by incorporating the HDX workflow onto a microfluidic platform housing an acidic protease microreactor, we are able to localize dynamic properties at the peptide level. In this study, Time-Resolved ElectroSpray Ionization Mass Spectrometry (TRESI-MS) coupled to HDX was used to provide a detailed picture of residual structure in the tau protein, as well as the conformational shifts induced upon hyperphosphorylation.

Conformational flexibility plays a critical role in protein function. Herein, we describe the use of time-resolved electrospray ionization mass spectrometry coupled to hydrogen-deuterium exchange for probing the rapid structural changes that drive function in ordered and disordered proteins.

Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) have long been a challenge to structural biologists due to their lack of stable secondary structure elements. ...

Resolving Affinity Purified Protein Complexes by Blue Native PAGE and Protein Correlation Profiling

Most proteins act in association with others; hence, it is crucial to characterize these functional units in order to fully understand biological processes. Affinity purification coupled to mass spectrometry (AP-MS) has become the method of choice for identifying protein-protein interactions. However, conventional AP-MS studies provide information on protein interactions, but the organizational information is lost. To address this issue, we developed a strategy to unravel the distinct functional assemblies a protein might be involved in, by resolving affinity-purified protein complexes prior to their characterization by mass spectrometry. Protein complexes isolated through affinity purification of a bait protein using an epitope tag and competitive elution are separated through blue native electrophoresis. Comparison of protein migration profiles through correlation profiling using quantitative mass spectrometry allows assignment of interacting proteins to distinct molecular entities. This method is able to resolve protein complexes of close molecular weights that might not be resolved by traditional chromatographic techniques such as gel filtration. With little more work than conventional AP-geLC-MS/MS, we demonstrate this strategy may in many cases be adequate for obtaining protein complex topological information concomitantly to identifying protein interactions.

Here we present protocols for affinity purification of protein complexes and their separation by blue native PAGE, followed by protein correlation profiling using label free quantitative mass spectrometry. This method is useful to resolve interactomes into distinct protein complexes.

Most proteins act in association with others; hence, it is crucial to characterize these functional units in order to fully understand biological ...

Analysis of Histone Antibody Specificity with Peptide Microarrays

Post-translational modifications (PTMs) on histone proteins are widely studied for their roles in regulating chromatin structure and gene expression. The mass production and distribution of antibodies specific to histone PTMs has greatly facilitated research on these marks. As histone PTM antibodies are key reagents for many chromatin biochemistry applications, rigorous analysis of antibody specificity is necessary for accurate data interpretation and continued progress in the field. This protocol describes an integrated pipeline for the design, fabrication and use of peptide microarrays for profiling the specificity of histone antibodies. The design and analysis aspects of this procedure are facilitated by ArrayNinja, an open-source and interactive software package we recently developed to streamline the customization of microarray print formats. This pipeline has been used to screen a large number of commercially available and widely used histone PTM antibodies, and data generated from these experiments are freely available through an online and expanding Histone Antibody Specificity Database. Beyond histones, the general methodology described herein can be applied broadly to the analysis of PTM-specific antibodies.

This manuscript describes methods for applying peptide microarray technology to specificity profiling of antibodies that recognize histones and their post-translational modifications.

Post-translational modifications (PTMs) on histone proteins are widely studied for their roles in regulating chromatin structure and gene expression. The ...

Defining Hsp33's Redox-regulated Chaperone Activity and Mapping Conformational Changes on Hsp33 Using Hydrogen-deuterium Exchange Mass Spectrometry

Living organisms regularly need to cope with fluctuating environments during their life cycle, including changes in temperature, pH, the accumulation of reactive oxygen species, and more. These fluctuations can lead to a widespread protein unfolding, aggregation, and cell death. Therefore, cells have evolved a dynamic and stress-specific network of molecular chaperones, which maintain a "healthy" proteome during stress conditions. ATP-independent chaperones constitute one major class of molecular chaperones, which serve as first-line defense molecules, protecting against protein aggregation in a stress-dependent manner. One feature these chaperones have in common is their ability to utilize structural plasticity for their stress-specific activation, recognition, and release of the misfolded client. 
In this paper, we focus on the functional and structural analysis of one such intrinsically disordered chaperone, the bacterial redox-regulated Hsp33, which protects proteins against aggregation during oxidative stress. Here, we present a toolbox of diverse techniques for studying redox-regulated chaperone activity, as well as for mapping conformational changes of the chaperone, underlying its activity. Specifically, we describe a workflow which includes the preparation of fully reduced and fully oxidized proteins, followed by an analysis of the chaperone anti-aggregation activity in vitro using light-scattering, focusing on the degree of the anti-aggregation activity and its kinetics. To overcome frequent outliers accumulated during aggregation assays, we describe the usage of Kfits, a novel graphical tool which allows easy processing of kinetic measurements. This tool can be easily applied to other types of kinetic measurements for removing outliers and fitting kinetic parameters. To correlate the function with the protein structure, we describe the setup and workflow of a structural mass spectrometry technique, hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry, that allows the mapping of conformational changes on the chaperone and substrate during different stages of Hsp33 activity. The same methodology can be applied to other protein-protein and protein-ligand interactions.

Defining Hsp33&#039;s Redox-regulated Chaperone Activity and Mapping Conformational Changes on Hsp33 Using Hydrogen-deuterium Exchange Mass Spectrometry

One of the most challenging stress conditions that organisms encounter during their lifetime involves the accumulation of oxidants. During oxidative stress, cells heavily rely on molecular chaperones. Here, we present methods used to investigate the redox-regulated anti-aggregation activity, as well as to monitor structural changes governing the chaperone function using HDX-MS.

Living organisms regularly need to cope with fluctuating environments during their life cycle, including changes in temperature, pH, the accumulation of ...

Proofreading and DNA Repair Assay Using Single Nucleotide Extension and MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry Analysis

The maintenance of the genome and its faithful replication is paramount for conserving genetic information. To assess high fidelity replication, we have developed a simple non-labeled and non-radio-isotopic method using a matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization with time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry (MS) analysis for a proofreading study. Here, a DNA polymerase [e.g., the Klenow fragment (KF) of Escherichia coli DNA polymerase I (pol I) in this study] in the presence of all four dideoxyribonucleotide triphosphates is used to process a mismatched primer-template duplex. The mismatched primer is then proofread/extended and subjected to MALDI-TOF MS. The products are distinguished by the mass change of the primer down to single nucleotide variations. Importantly, a proofreading can also be determined for internal single mismatches, albeit at different efficiencies. Mismatches located at 2-4-nucleotides (nt) from the 3' end were efficiently proofread by pol I, and a mismatch at 5 nt from the primer terminus showed only a partial correction. No proofreading occurred for internal mismatches located at 6 - 9 nt from the primer 3' end. This method can also be applied to DNA repair assays (e.g., assessing a base-lesion repair of substrates for the endo V repair pathway). Primers containing 3' penultimate deoxyinosine (dI) lesions could be corrected by pol I. Indeed, penultimate T-I, G-I, and A-I substrates had their last 2 dI-containing nucleotides excised by pol I before adding a correct ddN 5'-monophosphate (ddNMP) while penultimate C-I mismatches were tolerated by pol I, allowing the primer to be extended without repair, demonstrating the sensitivity and resolution of the MS assay to measure DNA repair.

A non-labeled, non-radio-isotopic method for DNA polymerase proofreading and a DNA repair assay was developed by using high-resolution MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry and a single nucleotide extension strategy. The assay proved to be very specific, simple, rapid, and easy to perform for proofreading and repair patches shorter than 9-nucleotides.

The maintenance of the genome and its faithful replication is paramount for conserving genetic information. To assess high fidelity replication, we have ...

Detection of Protein Ubiquitination Sites by Peptide Enrichment and Mass Spectrometry

The posttranslational modification of proteins by the small protein ubiquitin is involved in many cellular events. After tryptic digestion of ubiquitinated proteins, peptides with a diglycine remnant conjugated to the epsilon amino group of lysine (&#39;K-&#949;-diglycine&#39; or simply &#39;diGly&#39;) can be used to track back the original modification site. Efficient immunopurification of diGly peptides combined with sensitive detection by mass spectrometry has resulted in a huge increase in the number of ubiquitination sites identified up to date. We have made several improvements to this workflow, including offline high pH reverse-phase fractionation of peptides prior to the enrichment procedure, and the inclusion of more advanced peptide fragmentation settings in the ion routing multipole. Also, more efficient cleanup of the sample using a filter-based plug in order to retain the antibody beads results in a greater specificity for diGly peptides. These improvements result in the routine detection of more than 23,000 diGly peptides from human cervical cancer cells (HeLa) cell lysates upon proteasome inhibition in the cell. We show the efficacy of this strategy for in-depth analysis of the ubiquitinome profiles of several different cell types and of in vivo samples, such as brain tissue. This study presents an original addition to the toolbox for protein ubiquitination analysis to uncover the deep cellular ubiquitinome.

We present a method for the purification, detection, and identification of diGly peptides that originate from ubiquitinated proteins from complex biological samples. The presented method is reproducible, robust, and outperforms published methods with respect to the level of depth of the ubiquitinome analysis.

The posttranslational modification of proteins by the small protein ubiquitin is involved in many cellular events. After tryptic digestion of ...

Using the Open-Source MALDI TOF-MS IDBac Pipeline for Analysis of Microbial Protein and Specialized Metabolite Data

In order to visualize the relationship between bacterial phylogeny and specialized metabolite production of bacterial colonies growing on nutrient agar, we developed IDBac&#8212;a low-cost and high-throughput matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) bioinformatics pipeline. IDBac software is designed for non-experts, is freely available, and capable of analyzing a few to thousands of bacterial colonies. Here, we present procedures for the preparation of bacterial colonies for MALDI-TOF MS analysis, MS instrument operation, and data processing and visualization in IDBac. In particular, we instruct users how to cluster bacteria into dendrograms based on protein MS fingerprints and interactively create Metabolite Association Networks (MANs) from specialized metabolite data.

IDBac is an open-source mass spectrometry-based bioinformatics pipeline that integrates data from both intact protein and specialized metabolite spectra, collected on cell material scraped from bacterial colonies. The pipeline allows researchers to rapidly organize hundreds to thousands of bacterial colonies into putative taxonomic groups, and further differentiate them based on specialized metabolite production.

In order to visualize the relationship between bacterial phylogeny and specialized metabolite production of bacterial colonies growing on nutrient agar, ...

Nitropeptide Profiling and Identification Illustrated by Angiotensin II

Protein nitration is one of the most important post-translational modifications (PTM) on tyrosine residues and it can be induced by chemical actions of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) in eukaryotic cells. Precise identification of nitration sites on proteins is crucial for understanding the physiological and pathological processes related to protein nitration, such as inflammation, aging, and cancer. Since the nitrated proteins are of low abundance in cells even under induced conditions, no universal and efficient methods have been developed for the profiling and identification of protein nitration sites. Here we describe a protocol for nitropeptide enrichment by using a chemical reduction reaction and biotin labeling, followed by high resolution mass spectrometry. In our method, nitropeptide derivatives can be identified with high accuracy. Our method exhibits two advantages compared to the previously reported methods. First, dimethyl labeling is used to block the primary amine on nitropeptides, which can be used to generate quantitative results. Second, a disulfide bond containing NHS-biotin reagent is used for the enrichment, which can be further reduced and alkylated to enhance the detection signal on a mass spectrometer. This protocol has been successfully applied to the model peptide Angiotensin II in the current paper.

Proteomic profiling of tyrosine-nitrated proteins has been a challenging technique due to the low abundance of the 3-nitrotyrosine modification. Here we describe a novel approach for nitropeptide enrichment and profiling by using Angiotensin II as the model. This method can be extended for other in vitro or in vivo systems.

Protein nitration is one of the most important post-translational modifications (PTM) on tyrosine residues and it can be induced by chemical actions of ...

Quantitative Analysis of the Cellular Lipidome of Saccharomyces Cerevisiae Using Liquid Chromatography Coupled with Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Lipids are structurally diverse amphipathic molecules that are insoluble in water. Lipids are essential contributors to the organization and function of biological membranes, energy storage and production, cellular signaling, vesicular transport of proteins, organelle biogenesis, and regulated cell death. Because the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a unicellular eukaryote amenable to thorough molecular analyses, its use as a model organism helped uncover mechanisms linking lipid metabolism and intracellular transport to complex biological processes within eukaryotic cells. The availability of a versatile analytical method for the robust, sensitive, and accurate quantitative assessment of major classes of lipids within a yeast cell is crucial for getting deep insights into these mechanisms. Here we present a protocol to use liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) for the quantitative analysis of major cellular lipids of S. cerevisiae. The LC-MS/MS method described is versatile and robust. It enables the identification and quantification of numerous species (including different isobaric or isomeric forms) within each of the 10 lipid classes. This method is sensitive and allows identification and quantitation of some lipid species at concentrations as low as 0.2 pmol/&#181;L. The method has been successfully applied to assessing lipidomes of whole yeast cells and their purified organelles. The use of alternative mobile phase additives for electrospray ionization mass spectrometry in this method can increase the efficiency of ionization for some lipid species and can be therefore used to improve their identification and quantitation.

Quantitative Analysis of the Cellular Lipidome of Saccharomyces Cerevisiae Using Liquid Chromatography Coupled with Tandem Mass Spectrometry

We present a protocol using liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry to identify and quantify major cellular lipids in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The described method for a quantitative assessment of major lipid classes within a yeast cell is versatile, robust, and sensitive.

Lipids are structurally diverse amphipathic molecules that are insoluble in water. Lipids are essential contributors to the organization and function of ...