This work has been funded in part by NIH grants 3RF1AG064250 and R44CA239845.

All urine samples were collected from healthy individuals after informed consent. The experiments were compliant with all ethical standards involving human samples and conform to the guidelines from Purdue University Human Research Protection Program.
1. Sample collection
<ol>
	<li>Centrifuge 12 mL of urine sample in a 15 mL conical centrifuge tube for 10 min at 2,500 x g, 4 &#176;C to remove cell debris and large apoptotic bodies.</li>
	<li>Transfer 10 mL of the supernatant into a new 15 mL tube and proceed with EV isolation. 
	&#8203;NOTE: The protocol can be paused here, and the samples can be stored at -80 &#176;C and thawed at 37 &#176;C upon use.</li>
</ol>
2. EV isolation using the EVtrap approach
<ol>
	<li>Add 0.5 mL of loading buffer (1:10 v/v ratio) and 100 &#181;L of EVtrap bead slurry (1:50 v/v ratio) to the sample according to the manufacturer&#39;s instructions.</li>
	<li>Incubate the sample by end-over-end rotation for 30 min at room temperature.</li>
	<li>Pellet the sample by placing the 15 mL conical tube on a magnetic separator rack. Remove the supernatant.</li>
	<li>Resuspend the beads in 1 mL of washing buffer and transfer the suspension to a 1.5 mL microcentrifuge tube. Gently pipette to resuspend the EV-bound beads.</li>
	<li>Place the tube on a 1.5 mL microcentrifuge tube magnetic separator rack and aspirate the supernatant. Use a P200 pipette to completely aspirate the supernatant and avoid aspirating the beads.</li>
	<li>Wash the beads with 1 mL of washing buffer. Add the buffer immediately after aspirating the supernatant to prevent the beads from drying out.</li>
	<li>Wash the beads 2x with 1 mL of phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) at room temperature.</li>
	<li>Incubate the beads with 100 &#181;L of freshly prepared 100 mM triethylamine for 10 min at room temperature and collect the eluted solution containing EVs using a 1.5 mL microcentrifuge tube magnetic separator rack. 
	NOTE: To prepare 1 mL of 100 mM triethylamine, dilute 14 &#181;L of triethylamine solution in water.</li>
	<li>Repeat Step 2.8 and combine the eluted solutions. Dry the eluate using a vacuum centrifuge concentrator at 4 &#176;C. 
	NOTE: The experiment can be paused here. Dried EV samples can be stored at -80 &#176;C for several months without adverse effects on the following steps or the results.</li>
</ol>
3. Characterization of EVs by western blotting
<ol>
	<li>Resuspend 5% of the dried EV sample (equivalent to 0.5 mL of the urine sample) in 20 &#181;L of 1x lithium dodecyl sulfate (LDS) sample buffer with 10 mM dithiothreitol (DTT). 
	NOTE: EVs from 0.5 mL of urine are enough for detecting CD9 (an EV marker24) signal in western blotting.</li>
	<li>Boil the sample for 5 min at 95 &#176;C. Load the sample on a polyacrylamide gel and perform electrophoresis and immunoblotting following standard protocols25.</li>
	<li>After transferring the proteins onto a low-fluorescence polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane, block the membrane with 1% bovine serum albumin (BSA) in tris-buffered saline tween-20 (TBST) for 1 h at room temperature. To prepare 1 L of TBST buffer, add 19 mM Tris base, 137 mM NaCl, and 1 mL of Tween-20; adjust pH to 7.4 using HCl.</li>
	<li>Incubate membrane with rabbit anti-CD9 antibody at 1:5,000 ratio in 1% BSA in TBST at 4 &#176;C overnight or for 2 h at room temperature.</li>
	<li>Wash the membrane 3x for 5 min each with TBST. Incubate the membrane with anti-rabbit IgG, HRP-linked secondary antibody at 1:5000 ratio in 1% BSA in TBST for 1 h at room temperature.</li>
	<li>Wash the membrane 3x for 5 min each with TBST. Add the commercially obtained enhanced chemiluminescence (ECL) substrates (1:1 ratio) onto the membrane and detect signals on a chemiluminescence imaging system.</li>
</ol>
4. Sample preparation for proteomics and phosphoproteomics analysis
<ol>
	<li>Prepare fresh lysis buffer containing 12 mM sodium deoxycholate (SDC), 12 mM sodium lauroyl sarcosinate (SLS), 100 mM triethylammonium bicarbonate buffer (TEAB), 10 mM tris-(2-carboxyethyl)phosphine (TCEP), 40 mM chloroacetamide (CAA), and 1x phosphatase inhibitor cocktails. 
	NOTE: The stock solutions are listed in the description of the Table of Materials. The lysis buffer is prepared by adding the stock solutions to achieve the desired concentrations depending on the required volume.</li>
	<li>Solubilize the dried EV sample in 100 &#181;L of lysis buffer and heat the sample for 10 min at 95 &#176;C with shaking at 1,100 rpm.</li>
	<li>After cooling the sample to room temperature, dilute it five-fold by adding 400 &#181;L of 50 mM TEAB.</li>
	<li>Measure the protein concentration using a BCA assay kit as per the manufacturer&#39;s instructions. Use the lysis buffer diluted five-fold with 50 mM TEAB as blank.</li>
	<li>Add trypsin/Lys-C mix at 1:50 w/w enzyme-to-protein ratio and incubate the sample at 37 &#176;C overnight with shaking at 1,100 rpm.</li>
	<li>Add 50 &#181;L of 10% trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) to acidify the sample.</li>
	<li>Add 600 &#181;L of ethyl acetate to the samples and vortex the mixture for 2 min.</li>
	<li>Centrifuge the sample for 3 min at 20,000 x g and remove the upper layer (organic layer). Avoid disturbing the interface during aspiration.</li>
	<li>Repeat steps 4.7-4.8. Dry the aqueous phase using a vacuum centrifuge concentrator.</li>
	<li>Resuspend the dried sample in 200 &#181;L of 0.1% TFA to acidify peptides and desalt the sample using a C18 desalting tip according to the manufacturer&#39;s instructions. Condition the tip with 200 &#181;L of 0.1% TFA in 80% acetonitrile, followed by 2x with 200 &#181;L of 0.1% TFA. Load the acidified peptide sample into the tip and then wash the tip 3x with 200 &#181;L of 0.1% TFA. Elute the peptides with 200 &#181;L of 0.1% TFA in 80% acetonitrile.</li>
	<li>Dry the eluate using a vacuum centrifuge concentrator. Dry 2% of the peptide sample (equivalent to 0.2 mL of the urine sample) separately for proteomics analysis. Use the rest (98%) of the sample for phosphoproteomics analysis.</li>
	<li>Enrich phosphopeptides from the sample using a phosphopeptide enrichment kit according to the manufacturer&#39;s instructions. Perform the steps described below for enrichment.
	<ol>
		<li>Resuspend the dried sample in 200 &#181;L of loading buffer. Add 50 &#181;L of the beads to the sample and shake vigorously for 20 min at room temperature. Load the sample with the beads to the fritted tip and centrifuge for 1 min at 100 x g.</li>
		<li>Wash the tip with 200 &#181;L of loading buffer, followed by washing buffer 1, then washing buffer 2. Perform all three washing steps by centrifuging once for 2 min at 20 x g and once for 1 min at 100 x g.</li>
		<li>Put the tip with beads into a new tube to collect the eluted phosphopeptides. Add 50 &#181;L of elution buffer to the tip and centrifuge once for 2 min at 20 x g. Add another 50 &#181;L of elution buffer to the tip and centrifuge once for 2 min at 20 x g. Centrifuge one final time for 1 min at 100 x g.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>Dry the eluted phosphopeptides using a vacuum centrifuge concentrator.</li>
</ol>
5. LC-MS/MS analysis
NOTE: Different LC-MS/MS systems/settings and data-acquisition methods, such as data-dependent acquisition (DDA) can be used.
<ol>
	<li>Resuspend the dried proteome/phosphoproteome samples in 0.1% formic acid (solvent A) and load the samples according to the manufacturer&#39;s instructions.</li>
	<li>Inject the samples into trapped ion-mobility time-of-flight MS through the liquid chromatography (LC) system and use the preset standardized Whisper 40 samples per day method. Peptides are separated on a 15 cm C18 column (75 &#181;m inner diameter, 1.9 &#181;m particle size) as mentioned in the Table of Materials.</li>
	<li>For proteomics analysis, acquire data using a parallel accumulation-serial fragmentation combined with data-independent acquisition (dia-PASEF) acquisition method with a mass range per ramp spanning from 300-1200 m/z and from 0.6-1.50 1/K0 with a cycle time of 1.38 s.</li>
	<li>For phosphoproteomics analysis, acquire data using a dia-PASEF acquisition method with a mass range per ramp spanning from 400-1550 m/z and 0.6-1.50 1/K0 with a cycle time of 1.38 s.</li>
	<li>Load the raw files into proteomics software and perform signal extraction, identification, and quantitation using a library-free data independent acquisition workflow.
	<ol>
		<li>For search settings, use Homo sapiens database, specific digest types with trypsin/P enzymes, 7 minimal peptide length, 52 maximum peptide length, two missed cleavage, carbamidomethyl at cysteine as fixed modification, acetyl protein N-term, oxidation at methionine, and phosphorylation at serine, threonine, and tyrosine (for phosphoproteomics analysis) as variable modifications, and 5 as maximum variable modifications. Set the FDR at PSM, peptide, and protein group to 0.01. 
		NOTE: Spectronaut software was used in this protocol. Other DIA data searching software such as DIA-NN and PEAKS are also commonly used. If data was acquired in DDA mode, software such as MaxQuant and Proteome Discoverer are applicable.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
</ol>

Enhancing EV Isolation for Precise Biofluid Analysis

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The authors declare a competing financial interest. Anton Iliuk and W. Andy Tao are co-founders of Tymora Analytical Operations, which developed EVtrap beads and commercialized PolyMAC phosphopeptide enrichment kit.

Effective EV isolation is an essential prerequisite to detecting low-abundant proteins and phosphoproteins in EVs. Despite the development of numerous methods to fulfill this need, the majority still suffer from limitations such as poor recovery or low reproducibility, which impede their utilization in large-scale studies and routine clinical settings. DUC is generally considered as the most common method for EV isolation, and the additional washing steps are normally applied to help increase the purity of target EVs<sup...

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are membrane-encapsulated nanoparticles secreted by all types of cells and are present in biofluids such as blood, urine, saliva, etc.1,2,3,4. EVs carry a cargo of diverse bioactive molecules which reflect the physiological and pathological state of their host cells and, therefore function as crucial factors in disease progression4,5,6. Moreover, extensive studies have established that EV-based disease markers can be identified prior to the onset of symptoms or the physiological detection of tumors5,6,7.
Phosphorylation acts as a key mechanism in cellular signaling and regulation. Therefore, phosphoproteins provide a valuable source for biomarker discovery as aberrant phosphorylation events are associated with dysregulated cellular signaling pathways and metastatic disease development such as cancer8,9,10. Although profiling phosphorylation dynamics allows for the identification of disease-specific phosphoprotein signatures as potential biomarkers, the low abundance and dynamic nature of phosphoproteins pose major challenges in developing phosphoproteins as biomarkers11,12. Notably, the low-abundant phosphoproteins encapsulated within EVs are protected from external enzymatic digestion in the extracellular environment8. Consequently, EVs and EV-derived phosphoproteins offer an ideal source for biomarker discovery in the early-stage detection of cancer and other diseases.
Although analysis of protein phosphorylation in EVs offers a valuable resource for understanding cancer signaling and early-stage disease diagnosis, the lack of efficient EV isolation methods presents a major barrier. EV isolation is commonly achieved through differential ultracentrifugation (DUC)13. However, this method is time-consuming and is not suitable for clinical implications due to low throughput and poor reproducibility13,14. Alternative EV isolation approaches, such as polymer-induced precipitation15, are limited by low specificity due to co-precipitation of non-EV proteins. Affinity-based approaches, including antibody-based affinity capture16 and affinity filtration17, offer enhanced specificity but are restricted to a relatively low recovery rate due to small volume.
To address the issues in exploring phosphoprotein dynamics in EVs, our group has developed extracellular vesicles total recovery and purification (EVtrap) technique based on chemical affinity to capture EVs onto functionalized magnetic beads18. Previous results have demonstrated that this magnetic bead-based EV isolation method is highly effective in isolating EVs from a wide range of biofluid samples and is able to achieve much higher EV yield while minimizing contamination compared to DUC and other existing isolation methods18,19. We have successfully utilized EVtrap and a titanium-based phosphopeptide enrichment method developed by our group20 to profile the phosphoproteome of EVs derived from diverse biofluids and to detect potential phosphoprotein biomarkers for various diseases19,21,22.
Here, we present a protocol based on EVtrap for the isolation of circulating EVs. The protocol focuses on the urinary EVs. We also demonstrate the characterization of isolated EVs using western blotting. We then detail the sample preparation and mass spectrometry (MS) acquisition for both proteomics and phosphoproteomics analyses. This protocol provides an efficient and reproducible workflow for profiling the urinary EV proteome and phosphoproteome, which will facilitate further studies on EVs and their clinical applications23.

<table border="1" fo:keep-together.within-page="1" fo:keep-with-next.within-page="always">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>1.5 mL microcentrifuge tube</td>
			<td>Life Science Products</td>
			<td>M-1700C-LB</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>1.5 mL tube magnetic separator rack</td>
			<td>Sergi Lab Supplies</td>
			<td>1005</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>15 mL conical centrifuge tube</td>
			<td>Corning&#160;</td>
			<td>352097</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>15 mL tube magnetic separator rack</td>
			<td>Sergi Lab Supplies</td>
			<td>1002</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Anti-rabbit IgG, HRP-linked Antibody</td>
			<td>Cell Signaling Technology</td>
			<td>7074P2</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Benchtop incubated shaker</td>
			<td>Bioer</td>
			<td>DIS-87999-3367802</td>
			<td>Bioer Thermocell Mixing Block MB-101</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>CD9 (D3H4P) Rabbit mAb</td>
			<td>Cell Signaling Technology</td>
			<td>13403S</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Chloroacetamide</td>
			<td>Sigma -Aldrich</td>
			<td>C0267-100G</td>
			<td>Used for alkylation of reduced sulfide groups. Freshly prepare 400 mM in water as stock solution.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Ethyl acetate&#160;</td>
			<td>Fisher Scientific&#160;</td>
			<td>E145-4</td>
			<td>Precipitates detergents</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Evosep One&#160;</td>
			<td>Evosep</td>
			<td></td>
			<td>Liquid chromatography system</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Evotips</td>
			<td>Evosep</td>
			<td>EV2013</td>
			<td>Sample loading for Evosep One system&#160;</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>EVtrap</td>
			<td>Tymora Analytical</td>
			<td></td>
			<td>Functionalized magnetic beads, loading buffer, and washing buffer&#160;</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Immobilon-FL PVDF Membrane</td>
			<td>Sigma -Aldrich</td>
			<td>IPFL00010</td>
			<td>Blotting membrane&#160;</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>NuPAGE 4-12% Bis-Tris Gel</td>
			<td>Invitrogen</td>
			<td>NP0322BOX</td>
			<td>Invitrogen NuPAGE 4 to 12%, Bis-Tris, 1.0 mm, Mini Protein Gel, 12-well</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>NuPAGE LDS Sample Buffer (4X)</td>
			<td>Invitrogen</td>
			<td>NP0007</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>PBS</td>
			<td>ThermoFisher</td>
			<td>10010023</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Pepsep C18 15 x 75 x 1.9</td>
			<td>Bruker&#160;</td>
			<td>1893473</td>
			<td>Separation column&#160;</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Phosphatase Inhibitor Cocktail 2</td>
			<td>Sigma -Aldrich</td>
			<td>P5726-5ML</td>
			<td>100X, Phosphotase inhibitor.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Phosphatase Inhibitor Cocktail 3</td>
			<td>Sigma -Aldrich</td>
			<td>P0044-1ML</td>
			<td>100X,&#160; Phosphotase inhibitor.&#160;</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Pierce BCA Protein Assay Kit</td>
			<td>ThermoFisher</td>
			<td>23225</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Pierce ECL Western Blotting Substrate</td>
			<td>ThermoFisher</td>
			<td>32106</td>
			<td>HRP substrate&#160;</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>PolyMAC phosphopeptide enrichment kit</td>
			<td>Tymora Analytical</td>
			<td></td>
			<td>Polymer-based metal ion affinity capture (PolyMAC) for phosphopeptide enrichment</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Sodium deoxycholate&#160;</td>
			<td>Sigma -Aldrich</td>
			<td>D6750-10G</td>
			<td>Detergent for lysis buffer. Prepare 120 mM in water as stock solution.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Sodium lauroyl sarcosinate&#160;</td>
			<td>Sigma -Aldrich</td>
			<td>L9150-50G</td>
			<td>Detergent for lysis buffer. Prepare 120 mM in water as stock solution.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>timsTOF HT</td>
			<td>Bruker</td>
			<td></td>
			<td>Trapped ion-mobility time-of-flight mass spectrometry</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>TopTip C-18 (10-200 &#956;L) tips&#160;</td>
			<td>Glygen</td>
			<td>TT2C18.96</td>
			<td>Desalting method</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Triethylamine</td>
			<td>Sigma -Aldrich</td>
			<td>471283-100ML</td>
			<td>For EV elution.&#160;</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Triethylammonium bicabonate buffer</td>
			<td>Sigma -Aldrich</td>
			<td>T7408-100ML</td>
			<td>1 M</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Trifluoroacetic acid</td>
			<td>Sigma -Aldrich</td>
			<td>302031-100ML</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Tris-(2-carboxyethyl)phosphine hydrochloride</td>
			<td>Sigma -Aldrich</td>
			<td>C4706</td>
			<td>Used for reducion of disulfide bonds. Prepare 200 mM in water as stock solution. Aliquot the stock solution into small volume and store it in at-20&#176;C (avoid multiple freeze-thaw cycles).</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Trypsin/Lys-C MIX</td>
			<td>ThermoFisher</td>
			<td>PIA41007</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

chemical affinity-based isolation of extracellular vesicles from biofluids for proteomics and phosphoproteomics analysis

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) from biofluids have recently gained significant attention in the field of liquid biopsy. Released by almost every type of cell, they provide a real-time snapshot of host cells and contain a wealth of molecular information, including proteins, in particular those with post-translational modifications (PTMs) such as phosphorylation, as the main player of cellular functions and disease onset and progression. However, the isolation of EVs from biofluids remains challenging due to low yields and impurities from current EV isolation methods, making the downstream analysis of EV cargo, such as EV phosphoproteins, difficult. Here, we describe a rapid and effective EV isolation method based on functionalized magnetic beads for EV isolation from biofluids such as human urine and downstream proteomics and phosphoproteomics analysis following EV isolation. The protocol enabled a high recovery yield of urinary EVs and sensitive profiles of EV proteome and phosphoproteome. Furthermore, the versatility of this protocol and relevant technical considerations are also addressed here.

This protocol demonstrates a comprehensive workflow from the isolation of EVs to downstream proteomics and phosphoproteomics analyses (Figure 1). The triplicate urine samples were subjected to EV isolation. The isolated EVs were characterized by western blotting and subsequently processed for mass spectrometry-based proteomics sample preparation including protein extraction, enzymatic digestion, and peptide cleanup. For phosphoproteomics analysis, the phosphopeptides were further enriched ba...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Advancing EVtrap for High-Throughput Proteomics in Disease Biomarker Discovery at JoVE.com

Author Spotlight: Advancing EVtrap for High-Throughput Proteomics in Disease Biomarker Discovery 

The present protocol provides detailed descriptions for the efficient isolation of urinary extracellular vesicles utilizing functionalized magnetic beads. Moreover, it encompasses subsequent analyses, including western blotting, proteomics, and phosphoproteomics.

Chemical Affinity-Based Isolation of Extracellular Vesicles from Biofluids for Proteomics and Phosphoproteomics Analysis

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) from biofluids have recently gained significant attention in the field of liquid biopsy. Released by almost every type of ...

chemical-affinity-based-isolation-extracellular-vesicles-from

Research

JoVE Journal

Biochemistry

2.7K Views.  Purdue University. The present protocol provides detailed descriptions for the efficient isolation of urinary extracellular vesicles utilizing functionalized magnetic beads. Moreover, it encompasses subsequent analyses, including western blotting, proteomics, and phosphoproteomics.

Video: Author Spotlight: Advancing EVtrap for High-Throughput Proteomics in Disease Biomarker Discovery 

Lipid Droplet Isolation for Quantitative Mass Spectrometry Analysis

Lipid droplets are vital to the replication of a variety of different pathogens, most prominently the Hepatitis C Virus (HCV), as the putative site of virion morphogenesis. Quantitative lipid droplet proteome analysis can be used to identify proteins that localize to or are displaced from lipid droplets under conditions such as virus infections. Here, we describe a protocol that has been successfully used to characterize the changes in the lipid droplet proteome following infection with HCV. We use Stable Isotope Labeling with Amino Acids in Cell Culture (SILAC) and thus label the complete proteome of one population of cells with &#34;heavy&#34; amino acids to quantitate the proteins by mass spectrometry. For lipid droplet isolation, the two cell populations (i.e.&#160;HCV-infected/&#34;light&#34; amino acids and uninfected control/&#34;heavy&#34; amino acids) are mixed 1:1 and lysed mechanically in hypotonic buffer. After removing the nuclei and cell debris by low speed centrifugation, lipid droplet-associated proteins are enriched by two subsequent ultracentrifugation steps followed by three washing steps in isotonic buffer. The purity of the lipid droplet fractions is analyzed by western blotting with antibodies recognizing different subcellular compartments. Lipid droplet-associated proteins are then separated by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) followed by Coomassie staining. After tryptic digest, the peptides are quantified by liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS/MS). Using this method, we identified proteins recruited to lipid droplets upon HCV infection that might represent pro- or antiviral host factors. Our method can be applied to a variety of different cells and culture conditions, such as infection with pathogens, environmental stress, or drug treatment.

Lipid droplets are important organelles for the replication of several pathogens, including the Hepatitis C Virus (HCV). We describe a method to isolate lipid droplets for quantitative mass spectrometry of associated proteins; it can be used under a variety of conditions, such as virus infection, environmental stress, or drug treatment.

Lipid droplets are vital to the replication of a variety of different pathogens, most prominently the Hepatitis C Virus (HCV), as the putative site of ...

Extracellular Protein Microarray Technology for High Throughput Detection of Low Affinity Receptor-Ligand Interactions

Secreted factors, membrane-tethered receptors, and their interacting partners are main regulators of cellular communication and initiation of signaling cascades during homeostasis and disease, and as such represent prime therapeutic targets. Despite their relevance, these interaction networks remain significantly underrepresented in current databases; therefore, most extracellular proteins have no documented binding partner. This discrepancy is primarily due to the challenges associated with the study of the extracellular proteins, including expression of functional proteins, and the weak, low affinity, protein interactions often established between cell surface receptors. The purpose of this method is to describe the printing of a library of extracellular proteins in a microarray format for screening of protein-protein interactions. To enable detection of weak interactions, a method based on multimerization of the query protein under study is described. Coupled to this microbead-based multimerization approach for increased multivalency, the protein microarray allows robust detection of transient protein-protein interactions in high throughput. This method offers a rapid and low sample consuming-approach for identification of new interactions applicable to any extracellular protein. Protein microarray printing and screening protocol are described. This technology will be useful for investigators seeking a robust method for discovery of protein interactions in the extracellular space.

Here, we present a protocol to screen extracellular protein microarrays for identification of novel receptor-ligand interactions in high throughput. We also describe a method to enhance detection of transient protein-protein interactions by using protein-microbead complexes.

Secreted factors, membrane-tethered receptors, and their interacting partners are main regulators of cellular communication and initiation of signaling ...

Preparation of Chloroplast Sub-compartments from Arabidopsis for the Analysis of Protein Localization by Immunoblotting or Proteomics

Chloroplasts are major components of plant cells. Such plastids fulfill many crucial functions, such as assimilation of carbon, sulfur and nitrogen as well as synthesis of essential metabolites. These organelles consist of the following three key sub-compartments. The envelope, characterized by two membranes, surrounds the organelle and controls the communication of the plastid with other cell compartments. The stroma is the soluble phase of the chloroplast and the main site where carbon dioxide is converted into carbohydrates. The thylakoid membrane is the internal membrane network consisting of grana (flat compressed sacs) and lamellae (less dense structures), where oxygenic photosynthesis takes place. The present protocol describes step by step procedures required for the purification, using differential centrifugations and Percoll gradients, of intact chloroplasts from Arabidopsis, and their fractionation, using sucrose gradients, in three sub-compartments (i.e., envelope, stroma, and thylakoids). This protocol also provides instructions on how to assess the purity of these fractions using markers associated to the various chloroplast sub-compartments. The method described here is valuable for subplastidial localization of proteins using immunoblotting, but also for subcellular and subplastidial proteomics and other studies.

Here, we describe a method to purify intact chloroplasts from Arabidopsis leaves and their three main sub-compartments (envelope, stroma, and thylakoids), using a combination of differential centrifugations, continuous Percoll gradients, and discontinuous sucrose gradients. The method is valuable for subplastidial and subcellular localization of proteins by immunoblotting and proteomics.

Chloroplasts are major components of plant cells. Such plastids fulfill many crucial functions, such as assimilation of carbon, sulfur and nitrogen as ...

Isolation of Tissue Extracellular Vesicles from the Liver

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) can be released from many different cell types and detected in most, if not all, body fluids. EVs can participate in cell-to-cell communication by shuttling bioactive molecules such as RNA or protein from one cell to another. Most studies of EVs have been performed in cell culture models or in EVs isolated from body fluids. There is emerging interest in the isolation of EVs from tissues to study their contribution to physiological processes and how they are altered in disease. The isolation of EVs with sufficient yield from tissues is technically challenging because of the need for tissue dissociation without cellular damage. This method describes a procedure for the isolation of EVs from mouse liver tissue. The method involves a two-step process starting with in situ collagenase digestion followed by differential ultra-centrifugation. Tissue perfusion using collagenase provides an advantage over mechanical cutting or homogenization of liver tissue due to its increased yield of obtained EVs. The use of this two-step process to isolate EVs from the liver will be useful for the study of tissue EVs.

This is a protocol to isolate tissue extracellular vesicles (EVs) from the liver. The protocol describes a two-step process involving collagenase perfusion followed by differential ultracentrifugation to isolate liver tissue EVs.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) can be released from many different cell types and detected in most, if not all, body fluids. EVs can participate in ...

Rapid Fluorescence-based Characterization of Single Extracellular Vesicles in Human Blood with Nanoparticle-tracking Analysis

Extracellular vesicles (EVs), including exosomes, are specialized membranous nano-sized vesicles found in bodily fluids that are constitutively released from many cell types and play a pivotal role in regulating cell-cell communication and a diverse range of biological processes. Many different methods for the characterization of EVs have been described. However, most of these methods have the disadvantage that the preparation and characterization of the samples are very time-consuming, or it is extremely difficult to analyze specific markers of interest due to their small size and due to the lack of discrete populations. While methods for analysis of EVs have been considerably improved over the last decade, there is still no standardized method for characterization of single EVs. Here, we demonstrate a semi-automated method for characterization of single EVs by fluorescence-based nanoparticle-tracking analysis. The protocol that is presented addresses the common problem of many researchers in this field and provides the complete workflow for rapid isolation of EVs and characterization with PKH67, a general cell membrane linker, as well as with specific surface markers such as CD63, CD9, vimentin, and lysosomal-associated membrane protein 1 (LAMP-1). The presented results show a high level of reproducibility, as confirmed by other methods, such as Western blotting. In the conducted experiments, we exclusively used EVs isolated from human serum samples, but this method is also suitable for plasma or other body fluids and can be adjusted for characterization of EVs from cell culture supernatants. Irrespective of the future progress of research on EV biology, the protocol that is presented here provides a rapid and reliable method for rapid characterization of single EVs with specific markers.

In this protocol, we describe the complete workflow for rapid isolation of extracellular vesicles from human whole blood and characterization of specific markers by fluorescence-based nanoparticle-tracking analysis. The presented results show a high level of reproducibility and can be adjusted to cell culture supernatants.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs), including exosomes, are specialized membranous nano-sized vesicles found in bodily fluids that are constitutively released ...

Imaging of Extracellular Vesicles by Atomic Force Microscopy

Exosomes and other extracellular vesicles (EVs) are molecular complexes consisting of a lipid membrane vesicle, its surface decoration by membrane proteins and other molecules, and diverse luminal content inherited from a parent cell, which includes RNAs, proteins, and DNAs. The characterization of the hydrodynamic sizes of EVs, which depends on the size of the vesicle and its coronal layer formed by surface decorations, has become routine. For exosomes, the smallest of EVs, the relative difference between the hydrodynamic and vesicles sizes is significant. The characterization of vesicles sizes by the cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM) imaging, a gold standard technique, remains a challenge due to the cost of the instrument, the expertise required to perform the sample preparation, imaging and data analysis, and a small number of particles often observed in images. A widely available and accessible alternative is the atomic force microscopy (AFM), which can produce versatile data on three-dimensional geometry, size, and other biophysical properties of extracellular vesicles. The developed protocol guides the users in utilizing this analytical tool and outlines the workflow for the analysis of EVs by the AFM, which includes the sample preparation for imaging EVs in hydrated or desiccated form, the electrostatic immobilization of vesicles on a substrate, data acquisition, its analysis, and interpretation. The representative results demonstrate that the fixation of EVs on the modified mica surface is predictable, customizable, and allows the user to obtain sizing results for a large number of vesicles. The vesicle sizing based on the AFM data was found to be consistent with the cryo-TEM imaging.&#160;

A step-by-step procedure is described for label-free immobilization of exosomes and extracellular vesicles from liquid samples and their imaging by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The AFM images are used to estimate the size of the vesicles in the solution and characterize other biophysical properties.&#160;

Exosomes and other extracellular vesicles (EVs) are molecular complexes consisting of a lipid membrane vesicle, its surface decoration by membrane ...

TMT Sample Preparation for Proteomics Facility Submission and Subsequent Data Analysis

Proteomic technologies are powerful methodologies that can aid our understanding of mechanisms of action in biological systems by providing a global view of the impact of a disease, treatment, or other condition on the proteome as a whole. This report provides a detailed protocol for the extraction, quantification, precipitation, digestion, labeling, and subsequent data analysis of protein samples. Our optimized TMT labeling protocol requires a lower tag-label concentration and achieves consistently reliable data. We have used this protocol to evaluate protein expression profiles in a variety of mouse tissues (i.e., heart, skeletal muscle, and brain) as well as cells cultured in vitro. In addition, we demonstrate how to evaluate thousands of proteins from the resulting dataset.

We present an optimized tandem mass tag (TMT) labeling protocol that includes detailed information for each of the following steps: protein extraction, quantification, precipitation, digestion, labeling, submission to a proteomics facility, and data analyses.

Proteomic technologies are powerful methodologies that can aid our understanding of mechanisms of action in biological systems by providing a global view ...

A Mass Spectrometry-Based Proteomics Approach for Global and High-Confidence Protein R-Methylation Analysis

Protein Arginine (R)-methylation is a widespread protein post-translational modification (PTM) involved in the regulation of several cellular pathways, including RNA processing, signal transduction, DNA damage response, miRNA biogenesis, and translation.
In recent years, thanks to biochemical and analytical developments, mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomics has emerged as the most effective strategy to characterize the cellular methyl-proteome with single-site resolution. However, identifying and profiling in vivo protein R-methylation by MS remains challenging and error-prone, mainly due to the substoichiometric nature of this modification and the presence of various amino acid substitutions and chemical methyl-esterification of acidic residues that are isobaric to methylation. Thus, enrichment methods to enhance the identification of R-methyl-peptides and orthogonal validation strategies to reduce False Discovery Rates (FDR) in methyl-proteomics studies are required.
Here, a protocol specifically designed for high-confidence R-methyl-peptides identification and quantitation from cellular samples is described, which couples metabolic labeling of cells with heavy isotope-encoded Methionine (hmSILAC) and dual protease in-solution digestion of whole cell extract, followed by off-line High-pH Reversed Phase (HpH-RP) chromatography fractionation and affinity enrichment of R-methyl-peptides using anti-pan-R-methyl antibodies. Upon high-resolution MS analysis, raw data are first processed with the MaxQuant software package and the results are then analyzed by hmSEEKER, a software designed for the in-depth search of MS peak pairs corresponding to light and heavy methyl-peptide within the MaxQuant output files.

Protein Arginine (R)-methylation is a wide-spread post-translational modification regulating multiple biological pathways. Mass spectrometry is the best technology to globally profile the R-methyl-proteome, when coupled to biochemical approaches for modified peptide enrichment. The workflow designed for the high confidence identification of global R-methylation in human cells is described here.

Protein Arginine (R)-methylation is a widespread protein post-translational modification (PTM) involved in the regulation of several cellular pathways, ...

Optimization of Flow Cytometric Sorting Parameters for High-Throughput Isolation and Purification of Small Extracellular Vesicles

Small extracellular vesicles (sEV) can be released from all cell types and carry protein, DNA, and RNA. Signaling molecules serve as indicators of the physiological and pathological state of a cell. However, there is no standard method for sEV isolation, which prevents downstream biomarker identification and drug intervention studies. In this article, we provide a detailed protocol for the isolation and purification of 50-200 nm sEV by a flow cell sorter. For this, a 50 &#181;m nozzle and 80 psi sheath fluid pressure were selected to obtain a good sorting rate and stable side stream. Standard sized polystyrene microspheres were used to locate populations of 100, 200, and 300 nm particles. With additional optimization of the voltage, gain, and forward scatter (FSC) triggering threshold, the sEV signal could be separated from the background noise. These optimizations provide a panel of critical sort settings that enables one to obtain a representative population of sEV using FSC vs. side scatter (SSC) only. The flow cytometry-based isolation method not only allows for high-throughput analysis but also allows for synchronous classification or proteome analysis of sEV based on the biomarker expression, opening numerous downstream research applications.

This protocol provides a rapid and size-specific isolation method for small extracellular vesicles by optimizing the size of the air spray nozzle, sheath fluid pressure, sample flow pressure, voltage, gain, and triggering threshold parameters.

Small extracellular vesicles (sEV) can be released from all cell types and carry protein, DNA, and RNA. Signaling molecules serve as indicators of the ...

Isolating Small Extracellular Vesicles and Extracting Their Peptidome

Identification of Peptides of Small Extracellular Vesicles from Bone Marrow-Derived Macrophages

Small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) are typically secreted by the exocytosis of multivesicular bodies (MVBs). These nanovesicles with a diameter of &lt;200 nm are present in various body fluids. These sEVs regulate various biological processes such as gene transcription and translation, cell proliferation and survival, immunity and inflammation through their cargos, such as proteins, DNA, RNA, and metabolites. Currently, various techniques have been developed for sEVs isolation. Among them, the ultracentrifugation-based method is considered the gold standard and is widely used for sEVs isolation. The peptides are naturally biomacromolecules with less than 50 amino acids in length. These peptides participate in a variety of biological processes with biological activity, such as hormones, neurotransmitters, and cell growth factors. The peptidome is intended to systematically analyze endogenous peptides in specific biological samples by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Here, we introduced a protocol to isolate sEVs by differential ultracentrifugation and extracted peptidome for identification by LC-MS/MS. This method identified hundreds of sEVs-derived peptides from bone marrow-derived macrophages.

Author Spotlight: Peptidome Extraction from Small Extracellular Vesicles Isolated from Bone Marrow-Derived Macrophages 

This protocol describes a procedure to isolate small extracellular vesicles from macrophages by differential ultracentrifugation and extract the peptidome for identification by mass spectrometry.

Small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) are typically secreted by the exocytosis of multivesicular bodies (MVBs). These nanovesicles with a diameter of ...