Nico Jehmlich

Protein-based stable isotope probing (protein-SIP) in functional metaproteomics

The community phenotype as the sum of molecular functions of organisms living in consortia strongly depends on interactions within these communities. Therefore, the analyses of the most significant molecules in terms of the phenotype, the proteins, have to be performed on samples without disrupting the meta-species environment. Due to the increasing genomic information, proteins provide insights into a potential molecular function and the phylogenetic structure of the community. Unfortunately, the lists of identified proteins are often based first on the technical capacity of the used methods or instruments, and second on the interpretation of them by the assignment of molecular functions to proteins in databases. Especially in non-model organisms the functions of many proteins are often not known and an increasing number of studies indicate a significant amount of uncertainty. To decrease the dependency on assumptions and to enable functional insights by metaproteome approaches, the metabolic labeling from an isotopically labeled substrate can be used. Since the metabolites deriving from the substrate are very rarely species-specific, the incorporation of the stable isotope into proteins can be used as a surrogate marker for metabolic activity. The degree of incorporation can be determined accurately on the peptide level by mass spectrometry; additionally, the peptide sequence provides information on the metabolic active species. Thereby, protein-stable isotope probing (protein-SIP) adds functional information to metaproteome approaches. The classical metaproteome approaches will be reviewed with an emphasis on their attempts towards functional interpretation. The gain from functional insights into metaproteomics by using metabolic labeling of stable isotopes of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur is reviewed with a focus on the techniques of measurement, calculation of incorporation and data processing.

Time resolved protein-based stable isotope probing (Protein-SIP) analysis allows quantification of induced proteins in substrate shift experiments

The detection of induced proteins after introduction of specific substrates in culture is of high interest for a comparative description of organisms growing under different conditions. In this study, protein‐based stable isotope probing (Protein‐SIP) is used for a fast and reliable detection of newly synthesized proteins in a substrate shift experiment. Therefore, Pseudomonas putida ML2 cells precultured on 12C‐acetate and 12C‐benzene, respectively, were incubated with 13C‐benzene as a stable‐isotope‐labeled substrate. Protein samples from early to stationary growth phase were separated by one‐dimensional gel electrophoresis (1‐DE), subsequently tryptically digested, and analyzed by UPLC Orbitrap MS/MS measurements. Identified peptides from proteins involved in aerobic benzene degradation as well as from housekeeping proteins were chosen to calculate the labeling ratio (proportion of labeled protein to total protein) at different time points. A comparison of parameters from a nonlinear regression analysis of the calculated data enabled a clear differentiation between induced and constitutively expressed proteins. Thus, Protein‐SIP has proven to be a valuable tool for quantitative analysis of induced proteins in substrate shift experiments.

The secretome of Trametes versicolor grown on tomato juice medium and purification of the secreted oxidoreductases including a versatile peroxidase.

The present work was carried out with the aim to analyze the secretome of Trametes versicolor BAFC 2234 grown on tomato juice medium supplemented with copper and manganese. T. versicolor BAFC 2234 was selected among diverse wood dwelling agaricomycetes from Argentina by its ability to cause a strong white rot on hardwood and in addition to show high tolerance toward phenolic compounds. A considerable number of the identified proteins were related to the degradation/modification of lignocelluloses. Hydrolases, peroxidases and phenoloxidases were the most abundant enzymes produced under the above-mentioned culture conditions. The lignin-modifying oxidoreductases laccase, manganese peroxidase (MnP) and versatile peroxidase (VP) were successfully purified - the latter for the first time from T. versicolor. The native VP protein has a molecular mass of 45kDa and an isoelectric point of pH 3.7. The study clearly shows that complex plant-based media being rich in phenolics, such as tomato juice, can stimulate the secretion of a broad set of extracellular lignocellulolytic enzymes. Using such natural products as fungal culture media may give the opportunity to investigate plant biomass decomposition as well as the biodegradation of organic pollutants in an environment close to nature.

Phylogenetic and proteomic analysis of an anaerobic toluene-degrading community

Aims:u2002 This study intended to unravel the physiological interplay in an anaerobic microbial community that degrades toluene under sulfate‐reducing conditions combining proteomic and genetic techniques.

The Wood Rot Ascomycete Xylaria polymorpha Produces a Novel GH78 Glycoside Hydrolase That Exhibits α-l-Rhamnosidase and Feruloyl Esterase Activities and Releases Hydroxycinnamic Acids from Lignocelluloses

ABSTRACT Soft rot (type II) fungi belonging to the family Xylariaceae are known to substantially degrade hardwood by means of their poorly understood lignocellulolytic system, which comprises various hydrolases, including feruloyl esterases and laccase. In the present study, several members of the Xylariaceae were found to exhibit high feruloyl esterase activity during growth on lignocellulosic materials such as wheat straw (up to 1,675 mU g−1) or beech wood (up to 80 mU g−1). Following the ester-cleaving activity toward methyl ferulate, a hydrolase of Xylaria polymorpha was produced in solid-state culture on wheat straw and purified by different steps of anion-exchange and size-exclusion chromatography to apparent homogeneity (specific activity, 2.2 U mg−1). The peptide sequence of the purified protein deduced from the gene sequence and verified by de novo peptide sequencing shows high similarity to putative α-l-rhamnosidase sequences belonging to the glycoside hydrolase family 78 (GH78; classified under EC 3.2.1.40). The purified enzyme (98 kDa by SDS-PAGE, 103 kDa by size-exclusion chromatography; pI 3.7) converted diverse glycosides (e.g., α-l-rhamnopyranoside and α-l-arabinofuranoside) but also natural and synthetic esters (e.g., chlorogenic acid, hydroxycinnamic acid glycoside esters, veratric acid esters, or p-nitrophenyl acetate) and released free hydroxycinnamic acids (ferulic and coumaric acid) from arabinoxylan and milled wheat straw. These catalytic properties strongly suggest that X. polymorpha GH78 is a multifunctional enzyme. It is the first fungal enzyme that combines glycosyl hydrolase with esterase activities and may help this soft rot fungus to degrade lignocelluloses.

Calculation of partial isotope incorporation into peptides measured by mass spectrometry

BackgroundStable isotope probing (SIP) technique was developed to link function, structure and activity of microbial cultures metabolizing carbon and nitrogen containing substrates to synthesize their biomass. Currently, available methods are restricted solely to the estimation of fully saturated heavy stable isotope incorporation and convenient methods with sufficient accuracy are still missing. However in order to track carbon fluxes in microbial communities new methods are required that allow the calculation of partial incorporation into biomolecules.ResultsIn this study, we use the characteristics of the so-called half decimal place rule (HDPR) in order to accurately calculate the partial13C incorporation in peptides from enzymatic digested proteins. Due to the clade-crossing universality of proteins within bacteria, any available high-resolution mass spectrometry generated dataset consisting of tryptically-digested peptides can be used as reference.We used a freely available peptide mass dataset from Mycobacterium tuberculosis consisting of 315,579 entries. From this the error of estimated versus known heavy stable isotope incorporation from an increasing number of randomly drawn peptide sub-samples (100 times each; no repetition) was calculated. To acquire an estimated incorporation error of less than 5 atom %, about 100 peptide masses were needed. Finally, for testing the general applicability of our method, peptide masses of tryptically digested proteins from Pseudomonas putida ML2 grown on labeled substrate of various known concentrations were used and13C isotopic incorporation was successfully predicted. An easy-to-use script [1] was further developed to guide users through the calculation procedure for their own data series.ConclusionOur method is valuable for estimating13C incorporation into peptides/proteins accurately and with high sensitivity. Generally, our method holds promise for wider applications in qualitative and especially quantitative proteomics.

Sulfur-34S and 36S Stable Isotope Labeling of Amino Acids for Quantification (SULAQ34/36) of Proteome Analyses

Quantitative proteome profiling of microorganisms by isotopic labeling of amino acids is still a challenge, because only microorganisms with auxotrophic character are able to embed amino acids into their biomass in a quantitatively correct manner. Here, we describe an isotopic labeling technique (sulfur stable isotope labeling of amino acids for quantification, SULAQ) for the sulfur-containing amino acids cysteine and methionine in a broad range of organisms. The metabolic labeling approach is suitable for gel-based and gel-free protein analysis.