Name: specificity analysis of protein lysine methyltransferases using spot peptide arrays
Uploaded: 2014-11-29T15:00:00
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Specificity Analysis of Protein Lysine Methyltransferases Using SPOT Peptide Arrays at JoVE.com

This work has been supported by the DFG grant JE 252/7.

1. Preparation of Peptide Arrays
<ol>
	<li>Programming of the Peptide Sequences
	<ol>
		<li>Design peptide sequences for the synthesis using the MultiPep Spotter software. Enter the peptide sequences in single letter codes. 
		Peptide 1: T A R K S T G G K A</li>
		<li>Generate alanine or arginine walk libraries with a specific command (.replace, A) to screen the important amino acids required for the recognition of a defined substrate. For instance in the following example the first line is the wild type sequence ...

<ol>
	<li>Margueron, R., Reinberg, D. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Chromatin+structure+and+the+inheritance+of+epigenetic+information.">Chromatin structure and the inheritance of epigenetic information.</a> Nat. Rev. Genet. 11, 285-296 (2010).</li><li>Dawson, M. A., Kouzarides, T. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Cancer+epigenetics:+from+mechanism+to+therapy.">Cancer epigenetics: from mechanism to therapy.</a> Cell. 150, 12-27 (2012).</li><li>Helin, K., Dhanak, D. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Chromatin+proteins+and+modifications+as+drug+targets.">Chromatin proteins and modifications as drug targets.</a> Nature. 502, 480-488 (2013).</li><li>Clarke, S. G. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Protein+methylation+at+the+surface+and+buried+deep:+thinking+outside+the+histone+box.">Protein methylation at the surface and buried deep: thinking outside the histone box.</a> Trends in Biochemical Sciences. 38, 243-252 (2013).</li><li>Rathert, P., 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=Protein+lysine+methyltransferase+G9a+acts+on+non-histone+targets.">Protein lysine methyltransferase G9a acts on non-histone targets.</a> Nature Chemical Biology. 4, 344-346 (2008).</li><li>Hornbeck, P. V., Chabra, I., Kornhauser, J. M., Skrzypek, E., Zhang, B. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=PhosphoSite:+A+bioinformatics+resource+dedicated+to+physiological+protein+phosphorylation.">PhosphoSite: A bioinformatics resource dedicated to physiological protein phosphorylation.</a> Proteomics. 4, 1551-1561 (2004).</li><li>Reineke, U., Volkmer-Engert, R., Schneider-Mergener, J. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Applications+of+peptide+arrays+prepared+by+the+SPOT-technology.">Applications of peptide arrays prepared by the SPOT-technology.</a> Current Opinion in Biotechnology. 12, 59-64 (2001).</li><li>Winkler, D. F., Andresen, H., Hilpert, K. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=SPOT+synthesis+as+a+tool+to+study+protein-protein+interactions.">SPOT synthesis as a tool to study protein-protein interactions.</a> Methods Mol. Biol. 723, 105-127 (2011).</li><li>Leung, G. C., Murphy, J. M., Briant, D., Sicheri, F. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Characterization+of+kinase+target+phosphorylation+consensus+motifs+using+peptide+SPOT+arrays.">Characterization of kinase target phosphorylation consensus motifs using peptide SPOT arrays.</a> Methods Mol. Biol. 570, 187-195 (2009).</li><li>Frank, R. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=The+SPOT-synthesis+technique.+Synthetic+peptide+arrays+on+membrane+supports--principles+and+applications.">The SPOT-synthesis technique. Synthetic peptide arrays on membrane supports--principles and applications.</a> Journal of immunological methods. 267, 13-26 (2002).</li><li>Hilpert, K., Winkler, D. F., Hancock, R. E. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Peptide+arrays+on+cellulose+support:+SPOT+synthesis,+a+time+and+cost+efficient+method+for+synthesis+of+large+numbers+of+peptides+in+a+parallel+and+addressable+fashion.">Peptide arrays on cellulose support: SPOT synthesis, a time and cost efficient method for synthesis of large numbers of peptides in a parallel and addressable fashion.</a> Nature protocols. 2, 1333-1349 (2007).</li><li>Li, S. S., Wu, C. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Using+peptide+array+to+identify+binding+motifs+and+interaction+networks+for+modular+domains.">Using peptide array to identify binding motifs and interaction networks for modular domains.</a> Methods Mol. Biol. 570, 67-76 (2009).</li><li>Winkler, D. F., Hilpert, K., Brandt, O., Hancock, R. E. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Synthesis+of+peptide+arrays+using+SPOT-technology+and+the+CelluSpots-method.">Synthesis of peptide arrays using SPOT-technology and the CelluSpots-method.</a> Methods Mol. Biol. 570, 157-174 (2009).</li><li>Toepert, F., 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=Combining+SPOT+synthesis+and+native+peptide+ligation+to+create+large+arrays+of+WW+protein+domains.">Combining SPOT synthesis and native peptide ligation to create large arrays of WW protein domains.</a> Angew Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 42, 1136-1140 (2003).</li><li>Volkmer, R. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Synthesis+and+application+of+peptide+arrays:+quo+vadis+SPOT+technology.">Synthesis and application of peptide arrays: quo vadis SPOT technology.</a> Chembiochem : a EuropeanJournal of Chemical Biology. 10, 1431-1442 (2009).</li><li>Rathert, P., Zhang, X., Freund, C., Cheng, X., Jeltsch, A. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Analysis+of+the+substrate+specificity+of+the+Dim-5+histone+lysine+methyltransferase+using+peptide+arrays.">Analysis of the substrate specificity of the Dim-5 histone lysine methyltransferase using peptide arrays.</a> Chemistr., &amp; biology. 15, 5-11 (2008).</li><li>Kudithipudi, S., Dhayalan, A., Kebede, A. F., Jeltsch, A. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=The+SET8+H4K20+protein+lysine+methyltransferase+has+a+long+recognition+sequence+covering+seven+amino+acid+residues.">The SET8 H4K20 protein lysine methyltransferase has a long recognition sequence covering seven amino acid residues.</a> Biochimie. 94, 2212-2218 (2012).</li><li>Dhayalan, A., Kudithipudi, S., Rathert, P., Jeltsch, A. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Specificity+analysis-based+identification+of+new+methylation+targets+of+the+SET7/9+protein+lysine+methyltransferase.">Specificity analysis-based identification of new methylation targets of the SET7/9 protein lysine methyltransferase.</a> Chemistr., &amp; Biology. 18, 111-120 (2011).</li><li>Kudithipudi, S., Lungu, C., Rathert, P., Happel, N., Jeltsch, A. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Substrate+specificity+analysis+and+novel+substrates+of+the+protein+lysine+methyltransferase+NSD1.">Substrate specificity analysis and novel substrates of the protein lysine methyltransferase NSD1.</a> Chemistr., &amp; Biology. 21, 226-237 (2014).</li><li>Obenauer, J. C., Cantley, L. C., Yaffe, M. B. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Scansite+2.0:+Proteome-wide+prediction+of+cell+signaling+interactions+using+short+sequence+motifs.">Scansite 2.0: Proteome-wide prediction of cell signaling interactions using short sequence motifs.</a> Nucleic Acids Research. 31, 3635-3641 (2003).</li><li>Takahashi, M., Ueno, A., Mihara, H. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Peptide+design+based+on+an+antibody+complementarity-determining+region+(CDR):+construction+of+porphyrin-binding+peptides+and+their+affinity+maturation+by+a+combinatorial+method.">Peptide design based on an antibody complementarity-determining region (CDR): construction of porphyrin-binding peptides and their affinity maturation by a combinatorial method.</a> Chemistry. 6, 3196-3203 (2000).</li><li>Kramer, A., 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=Spot+synthesis:+observations+and+optimizations.">Spot synthesis: observations and optimizations.</a> J. Pept. Res. 54, 319-327 (1999).</li><li>Stadler, V., 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=Combinatorial+synthesis+of+peptide+arrays+with+a+laser+printer.">Combinatorial synthesis of peptide arrays with a laser printer.</a> Angew Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 47, 7132-7135 (2008).</li><li>Schnack, C., Hengerer, B., Gillardon, F. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Identification+of+novel+substrates+for+Cdk5+and+new+targets+for+Cdk5+inhibitors+using+high-density+protein+microarrays.">Identification of novel substrates for Cdk5 and new targets for Cdk5 inhibitors using high-density protein microarrays.</a> Proteomics. 8, 1980-1986 (2008).</li><li>Mah, A. S., 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=Substrate+specificity+analysis+of+protein+kinase+complex+Dbf2-Mob1+by+peptide+library+and+proteome+array+screening.">Substrate specificity analysis of protein kinase complex Dbf2-Mob1 by peptide library and proteome array screening.</a> BMC Biochemistry. 6, 22 (2005).</li></ol>

SPOT synthesis as described here is a powerful method to map protein-protein interaction sites and investigate the substrate recognition of peptide modifying enzymes. However, SPOT synthesis still has certain drawbacks, because although the peptides synthesized by the SPOT method are reported to have more than 90% purity 21 this is difficult to confirm in each instance. Therefore, results have to be reproduced by other methods for instance using protein domains or with purified peptides synthesized by standard...

In the last two decades, several reports demonstrated the importance of post-translational modifications (PTM) in cellular development and several diseases like cancer, but recently protein lysine methylation has emerged as an another vital PTM. While initially histone lysine methylation was found to be an essential chromatin mark, later work also showed lysine methylation of several non-histone proteins 1-4. The sequential transfer of methyl groups from S-adenosyl-L-methionine to the &#949;-amino group of lysine residues is catalyzed by a family of enzymes called Protein Lysine Methyltransferases (PKMTs) that contains over 60 proteins in the human genome. PKMTs were initially discovered as histone modifying enzymes that methylate specific lysine residue but later reports demonstrated that they could also methylate non-histone proteins 5. Up to now, approximately 5,000 lysine methylation sites were identified on different proteins 6, but the enzymes responsible for these modifications are often not identified. One reason for this is that the specificity of most PKMTs has not been studied extensively. Therefore, it recurrently occurs that novel substrates of PKMTs are discovered. The lack of a detailed knowledge of the substrate specificity of PKMTs hinders understanding of their biological function and role. To study the specificity of a PKMT in detail, the methylation rates of many peptide substrates that differ in one or few amino acids must be measured and compared, which is ideally done using peptide arrays. Based on the resulting specificity profiles, potential substrates of PKMTs can be identified that can be studied further.
Peptide arrays are widely used tools for the biochemical analysis of antibodies, peptide modifying enzymes and mapping of protein-protein interaction sites (antibody-antigen, receptor-ligand) 7-9. Several hundreds of peptides are needed for such applications. Different methods are available for peptide synthesis, among them peptide synthesis on resin is very commonly used, but it has limitations in throughput and it is relatively expensive. These issues were resolved with the introduction of the SPOT synthesis method by Frank and colleagues 10. The SPOT synthesis method allows synthesis of several hundred peptides in parallel and on average it is inexpensive compared to resin synthesis. The peptides synthesized on cellulose membrane can be used either directly for various applications or peptides can be cleaved from the membrane and used as free peptides for in solution assays or to prepare peptide microarrays 10-13.
SPOT synthesis is a variant of the solid phase peptide synthesis, which uses a cellulose membrane as a solid support and employs the standard Fmoc-chemistry 10-13. Hence, the synthesis of peptide chains starts at the C-terminal end and proceeds towards the N-terminal end in contrast to the biological synthesis in ribosomes. Cellulose membranes are functionalized for the attachment of the first activated amino acids (Fig. 1). The SPOT method is based on the sequential delivery of activated amino acids in a droplet of solvent to defined spots on the membrane using an automated pipetting system. The droplet of liquid is dispensed on the porous membrane where it forms a circular wet spot, which later acts as an open reactor for the chemical reactions in peptide synthesis. The spot size is determined by the volume dispensed and the absorptive capacity of the membrane, multiples of such spots are arranged as arrays. The scale of synthesis correlates with the spot size and the loading capacity of the membrane. The distance between the spots and the density of arrays are managed by varying the spot sizes. Cellulose membrane has several advantages as solid phase in peptide synthesis, it is inexpensive, tolerant to the chemicals used in peptide synthesis, stable in aqueous solutions and easy to handle. In addition, its hydrophilic nature makes it suitable for several biological assay systems. SPOT synthesis can be carried out manually or automated (for 1000s of peptides) depending on the required number of peptides. A fully automated SPOT synthesizer from Intavis (K&#246;ln, Germany) is used for our applications. It permits synthesis of peptides in different amounts and of different length. Linear peptides are regularly synthesized with 15 to 20 amino acid length, in addition peptides of up to 42 amino acid can also be prepared by step-wise synthesis 14,15. However, increasing the number of amino acids leads to reductions in the overall coupling yields, which affects the quality of the peptides. Because of the low amount of peptides per spot, the products are often difficult to purify and the quality of individual peptides cannot be easily assessed. Therefore, the results obtained from SPOT peptide arrays must be confirmed either with peptides synthesized by standard methods in larger scale, which can be purified and analyzed according to standards in peptide synthesis or by synthesizing the proteins containing the desired peptide sequences. Still, we found the SPOT synthesis to be highly reliable and results generally to be reproducible. SPOT synthesis is not restricted to proteinogenic amino acids, several commercially available modified amino acids also can be used for synthesis, allowing peptides to be modified before and after the final cleavage of the side-chain protection group and, furthermore, it also allows incorporation of phosphorylated, methylated or acetylated amino acids 11.
Immobilized peptide libraries synthesized by the SPOT method can be directly used for many biological and biochemical assays. We employed peptide arrays comprising 300-400 peptides to investigate the substrate specificity of PKMTs. For enzymatic modification, the peptide arrays are incubated with the respective PKMT and labeled [methyl-3H]-AdoMet in an appropriate buffer. The methylation of the respective substrate is analyzed by following the enzymatic transfer of the radioactively labelled methyl groups from AdoMet to the peptide substrate via autoradiography (Fig. 3). By this procedure, the peptide arrays allow the study of methylation of different peptide substrates at the same time. One important advantage of this method is that all the peptides are methylated in competition, such that during the linear phase of the methylation kinetics, the relative methylation of each peptide is proportional to the catalytic rate constant divided by the dissociation constant (kcat/KD) of the enzyme for the respective peptide substrate. Therefore, the amount of radioactivity incorporated into each spot is directly correlated with the enzymatic activity towards the particular peptide. Using the results of a peptide array methylation experiment, the specificity profile of the PKMT can be defined and based on this novel substrates can be predicated. Peptide arrays allow the rapid and cost efficient validation of the methylation of novel substrates at the peptide level. For this, arrays are prepared that contain the predicted novel substrates together with modified peptides containing an Ala instead of Lys at the target sites as well as positive and negative control peptides. Finally, the novel substrates can be prepared as proteins together with mutants, in which the target Lys is altered to Ala and the methylation can be confirmed at the protein level. Depending on the results, this is then followed by biological studies addressing potential roles of the methylation of the newly described protein substrates.

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	<tbody>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:325px;">Name of Material/ Equipment</td>
			<td style="width:112px;">Company</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">Catalog Number</td>
			<td style="width:179px;">Comments/Description</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;">Ethanol abs Gradient Grade HPLC</td>
			<td>Honeywell</td>
			<td>10299901</td>
			<td>Flammable</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;">N,N-Dimethylformamide Peptide Synthesis</td>
			<td>Biosolve</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">4193302</td>
			<td>Flammable, Toxic</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;">Piperidine &#8805; 99 % for Peptide Synthesis</td>
			<td>Roth</td>
			<td>A122.1</td>
			<td>Flammable, Toxic, corrosive</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:325px;">Oxyma Pure (Ethyl (hydroxyimino)cyanoacetate )</td>
			<td>Novabiochem</td>
			<td>8510860100</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:325px;">N,N&#8217;-Diisopropylcarbodiimide purum &#8805; 98% GC</td>
			<td>Fluka</td>
			<td>38370</td>
			<td>Flammable, Toxic, corrosive</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;">Acetic anhydride</td>
			<td>Roth</td>
			<td>CP28.1</td>
			<td>Flammable, Toxic, corrosive</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;">Triisopropylsilane 99%,</td>
			<td>Aldrich</td>
			<td>233781</td>
			<td>Flammable, Toxic</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;">Dichlormethane &#8805;99,9%</td>
			<td>Roth</td>
			<td>P089.1</td>
			<td>Carcinogenic</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;">N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidone</td>
			<td>Roth</td>
			<td>4306.2</td>
			<td>Toxic</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;">Derivatized cellulose Membrane</td>
			<td style="width:112px;">Intavis AG K&#246;ln</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">32.1</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;">Trifluoroacetic acid</td>
			<td>Roth</td>
			<td>P088.2</td>
			<td>Toxic, corrosive</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;">Bromphenolblue</td>
			<td>AppliChem</td>
			<td>A3640.0010</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;">Ammonium Hydrogen Carbonate</td>
			<td>Roth</td>
			<td>T871.2</td>
			<td>Toxic</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;">Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate Pellets</td>
			<td>Roth</td>
			<td>CN30.3</td>
			<td>Toxic, Flammable</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:325px;">MultiPep Synthesizer</td>
			<td style="width:112px;">Intavis AG K&#246;ln</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">n.a.</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:325px;">HyperfilmTM high performance film</td>
			<td style="width:112px;">GE Healthcare</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">28906837</td>
			<td style="width:179px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:325px;">Phoretix software</td>
			<td style="width:112px;">TotalLab</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">n.a.</td>
			<td style="width:179px;"></td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

specificity analysis of protein lysine methyltransferases using spot peptide arrays

Lysine methylation is an emerging post-translation modification and it has been identified on several histone and non-histone proteins, where it plays crucial roles in cell development and many diseases. Approximately 5,000 lysine methylation sites were identified on different proteins, which are set by few dozens of protein lysine methyltransferases. This suggests that each PKMT methylates multiple proteins, however till now only one or two substrates have been identified for several of these enzymes. To approach this problem, we have introduced peptide array based substrate specificity analyses of PKMTs. Peptide arrays are powerful tools to characterize the specificity of PKMTs because methylation of several substrates with different sequences can be tested on one array. We synthesized peptide arrays on cellulose membrane using an Intavis SPOT synthesizer and analyzed the specificity of various PKMTs. Based on the results, for several of these enzymes, novel substrates could be identified. For example, for NSD1 by employing peptide arrays, we showed that it methylates K44 of H4 instead of the reported H4K20 and in addition H1.5K168 is the highly preferred substrate over the previously known H3K36. Hence, peptide arrays are powerful tools to biochemically characterize the PKMTs.

Peptide arrays were successfully used to biochemically characterize the specificity of PKMTs, and several novel histone and non-histone substrates of PKMT were identified by this approach 5,16-19. Defining the correct substrate spectrum of a PKMT (or any enzyme) is an essential step towards understanding of its molecular mechanism and cellular functions.
As an example of the application of the peptide SPOT array methylation method, we describe the results of the specificity analysis...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Specificity Analysis of Protein Lysine Methyltransferases Using SPOT Peptide Arrays at JoVE.com

Specificity Analysis of Protein Lysine Methyltransferases Using SPOT Peptide Arrays

Peptide arrays synthesized by the SPOT method can be used to analyze the substrate specificity of Protein lysine methyltransferases (PKMTs) and to define the substrate spectrum of PKMTs to understand their biological role. This protocol describes how to synthesize peptide arrays, methylate them with PKMTs, and analyze the results.

Lysine methylation is an emerging post-translation modification and it has been identified on several histone and non-histone proteins, where it plays ...

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