M. Uljana Mayer

Identification of Cross-Linked Peptides after Click-Based Enrichment Using Sequential Collision-Induced Dissociation and Electron Transfer Dissociation Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Chemical cross-linking combined with mass spectrometry can be a powerful approach for the identification of protein-protein interactions and for providing constraints on protein structures. However, enrichment of cross-linked peptides is crucial to reduce sample complexity before mass spectrometric analysis. In addition compact cross-linkers are often preferred to provide short spacer lengths, surface accessibility to the protein complexes, and must have reasonable solubility under conditions where the native complex structure is stable. In this study, we present a novel compact cross-linker that contains two distinct features: (1) an alkyne tag and (2) a small molecule detection tag (NO(2)) to maintain reasonable solubility in water. The alkyne tag enables enrichment of the cross-linked peptides after proteolytic cleavage and coupling of an affinity tag using alkyne-azido click chemistry. Neutral loss of the small NO(2) moiety provides a secondary means of detecting cross-linked peptides in MS/MS analyses, providing additional confidence in peptide identifications. We show the labeling efficiency of this cross-linker, which we termed CLIP (click-enabled linker for interacting proteins) using ubiquitin. The enrichment capability of CLIP is demonstrated for cross-linked ubiquitin in highly complex E. coli cell lysates. Sequential collision-induced dissociation tandem mass spectrometry (CID-MS/MS) and electron transfer dissociation (ETD)-MS/MS of intercross-linked peptides (two peptides connected with a cross-linker) are also demonstrated for improved automated identification of cross-linked peptides.

Xlink-identifier: an automated data analysis platform for confident identifications of chemically cross-linked peptides using tandem mass spectrometry.

Chemical cross-linking combined with mass spectrometry provides a powerful method for identifying protein-protein interactions and probing the structure of protein complexes. A number of strategies have been reported that take advantage of the high sensitivity and high resolution of modern mass spectrometers. Approaches typically include synthesis of novel cross-linking compounds, and/or isotopic labeling of the cross-linking reagent and/or protein, and label-free methods. We report Xlink-Identifier, a comprehensive data analysis platform that has been developed to support label-free analyses. It can identify interpeptide, intrapeptide, and deadend cross-links as well as underivatized peptides. The software streamlines data preprocessing, peptide scoring, and visualization and provides an overall data analysis strategy for studying protein-protein interactions and protein structure using mass spectrometry. The software has been evaluated using a custom synthesized cross-linking reagent that features an enrichment tag. Xlink-Identifier offers the potential to perform large-scale identifications of protein-protein interactions using tandem mass spectrometry.

Prospecting the proteome: identification of naturally occurring binding motifs for biarsenical probes.

Fluorescent biarsenical probes function by binding to peptide tags genetically engineered into a protein under study. We have found an improved, less rigid tag to bind FlAsH and other xanthene-based biarsenicals.

A Targeted Releasable Affinity Probe (TRAP) for In Vivo Photocrosslinking

A protein TRAP: The in vivo photocrosslinking of TRAP after its intracellular targeting to a binding sequence on the bait protein stabilizes protein interactions. Because the crosslinker is releasable, simple mass spectrometry can be used to identify the protein binding sites after purification.

Helix A Stabilization Precedes Amino-Terminal Lobe Activation upon Calcium Binding to Calmodulin†

The structural coupling between opposing domains of CaM was investigated using the conformationally sensitive biarsenical probe 4,5-bis(1,3,2-dithioarsolan-2-yl)resorufin (ReAsH), which upon binding to an engineered tetracysteine motif near the end of helix A (Thr-5 to Phe-19) becomes highly fluorescent. Changes in conformation and dynamics are reflective of the native CaM structure, as there is no change in the (1)H- (15)N HSQC NMR spectrum in comparison to wild-type CaM. We find evidence of a conformational intermediate associated with CaM activation, where calcium occupancy of sites in the amino-terminal and carboxyl-terminal lobes of CaM differentially affect the fluorescence intensity of bound ReAsH. Insight into the structure of the conformational intermediate is possible from a consideration of calcium-dependent changes in rates of ReAsH binding and helix A mobility, which respectively distinguish secondary structural changes associated with helix A stabilization from the tertiary structural reorganization of the amino-terminal lobe of CaM necessary for high-affinity binding to target proteins. Helix A stabilization is associated with calcium occupancy of sites in the carboxyl-terminal lobe ( K d = 0.36 +/- 0.04 microM), which results in a reduction in the rate of ReAsH binding from 4900 M (-1) s (-1) to 370 M (-1) s (-1). In comparison, tertiary structural changes involving helix A and other structural elements in the amino-terminal lobe require calcium occupancy of amino-terminal sites (K d = 18 +/- 3 microM). Observed secondary and tertiary structural changes involving helix A in response to the sequential calcium occupancy of carboxyl- and amino-terminal lobe calcium binding sites suggest an important involvement of helix A in mediating the structural coupling between the opposing domains of CaM. These results are discussed in terms of a model in which carboxyl-terminal lobe calcium activation induces secondary structural changes within the interdomain linker that release helix A, thereby facilitating the formation of calcium binding sites in the amino-terminal lobe and linked tertiary structural rearrangements to form a high-affinity binding cleft that can associate with target proteins.