Ronghu Wu

A large-scale method to measure absolute protein phosphorylation stoichiometries

The functional role of protein phosphorylation is impacted by its fractional stoichiometry. Thus, a comprehensive strategy to study phosphorylation dynamics should include an assessment of site stoichiometry. Here we report an integrated method that relies on phosphatase treatment and stable-isotope labeling to determine absolute stoichiometries of protein phosphorylation on a large scale. This approach requires the measurement of only a single ratio relating phosphatase-treated and mock-treated samples. Using this strategy we determined stoichiometries for 5,033 phosphorylation sites in triplicate analyses from Saccharomyces cerevisiae growing through mid-log phase. We validated stoichiometries at ten sites that represented the full range of values obtained using synthetic phosphopeptides and found excellent agreement. Using bioinformatics, we characterized the biological properties associated with phosphorylation sites with vastly differing absolute stoichiometries.

Correct Interpretation of Comprehensive Phosphorylation Dynamics Requires Normalization by Protein Expression Changes

The interpretation of quantitative phosphoproteomics studies is complicated because each differential phosphorylation event integrates both changes in protein expression and phosphorylation. Here we investigated this phenomenon by performing parallel comparisons of protein expression and phosphorylation in S. cerevisiae. In each of two experiments comparing yeast mutants bearing deletions in FUS3 or STE7 with their wild-type counterparts, we quantified over 4100 proteins, including all members of the yeast mating pathway. We also identified 12,499 unique phosphorylation sites in this work. We demonstrate the critical importance of controlling the protein-level false-discovery rate and provide a novel method to assess the accuracy of protein false-discovery rate estimates. For the first time, 96% of nonredundant phosphopeptide ratios could be calibrated by protein levels, allowing truly differential phosphorylation to be distinguished from altered protein expression. This revealed a starkly different view, with 25% of seemingly differential phosphopeptides now attributed to changes in protein expression. Combined protein expression and phosphorylation surveys uncovered both independent and concerted changes in protein expression and phosphorylation, while highlighting the partially redundant role of a second MAPK (Kss1) in the mating pathway.

An investigation of protonation sites and conformations of protonated amino acids by IRMPD spectroscopy.

The protonation sites and structures of a series of protonated amino acids (Gly, Ala, Pro, Phe, Lys and Ser) are investigated by means of infrared multiple-photon dissociation (IRMPD) spectroscopy and electronic-structure calculations. The IRMPD spectra of the protonated species are recorded using the combination of a free-electron laser (FEL) and an electrospray-ion-trap mass spectrometer. The structures of different possible isomers of these protonated species are optimized at the B3LYP/6-311+G(d, p) level of theory and the IR spectra calculated using the same computational method. For every amino acid studied herein, the current results indicate that a proton is bound to the alpha-amino nitrogen, except for lysine, in which the protonation site is the amino nitrogen in the side chain. According to the calculated and experimental IRMPD results, the structures of the protonated amino acids may be assigned unambiguously. For Gly, Ala, and Pro, in each of the most stable isomers the protonated amino group forms an intramolecular hydrogen bond with the adjacent carbonyl oxygen. In the case of Gly, the isomer containing a proton bound to the carbonyl oxygen is theoretically possible. However, it does not exist under the experimental conditions because it has a significantly higher energy (i.e. 26.6 kcal mol(-1)) relative to the most stable isomer. For Ser and Phe, the protonated amino group forms two intramolecular hydrogen bonds with both the adjacent carbonyl oxygen and the side-chain group in each of the most stable isomers. In protonated lysine, the protonated amino group in the side chain forms two hydrogen bonds with the alpha-amino nitrogen and the carbonyl oxygen, which is a cyclic structure. Interestingly, for protonated lysine the zwitterionic structure is a local minimum energy isomer, but the experimental spectrum indicates that it does not exist under the experimental conditions. This is consistent with the fact that the zwitterionic isomer is 9.2 kcal mol(-1) higher in free energy at 298 K than the most stable isomer. The carbonyl stretching vibration in the range of 1760-1800 cm(-1) is especially sensitive to the structural change. In addition, IRMPD mechanisms for the protonated amino acids are also investigated.

Investigation of Cation-π Interactions in Biological Systems

Noncovalent interactions, such as van der Waals interactions, hydrogen bonds, salt bridge and cation-Pi interactions play extremely important roles in biological systems and, in contrast to covalent bonds, many such noncovalent interactions are not well understood. In the present work a new protocol has been developed to measure the enhancement of binding energies due to cation-Pi interactions between aromatic amino acids and organic or metal ions. Investigation of the cation-Pi interactions will provide further insight into the structure and function of biological molecules.

Protonation Sites and Conformations of Peptides of Glycine (Gly1―5H+) by IRMPD Spectroscopy

The protonation sites and conformations of protonated glycine and its peptides (Gly(1-5)) have been investigated using infrared multiple photon dossociation (IRMPD) spectroscopy in combination with theoretical calculations. For small peptides, protonation is generally presumed to occur at the amine nitrogen of the N-terminus or a nitrogen of a basic side chain. However, for triglycine, the experimental and calculated results indicate that one of the main species is an isomer in which the proton is bound to an amide oxygen. The amide II vibrational mode is found to be very sensitive to the protonation site. When the protonation site is at the amine nitrogen, the amide II mode appears around 1540 cm(-1) for diglycine, tetraglycine, pentaglycine, and one of the main isomers of triglycine (GGGH02). When the proton is bound to an amide oxygen, the amide II mode is blue-shifted to 1590 cm(-1), as seen in GGGH01. IR spectra have been obtained to provide direct evidence that an amide oxygen may serve as the protonation site in a peptide. An analogous result is found for the tripeptide of alanine. In the progression from glycine to pentaglycine, the corresponding conformations of the most stable isomers vary from linear to cyclic structures. Both glycine and diglycine are linear structures, while the most stable isomers of the tetra- and pentapeptides are both cyclic structures. For triglycine, the linear and cyclic isomers are found to coexist. The carbonyl stretches also directly reflect the conformational changes. For the linear isomers of the di- and tripeptides of glycine, two well-separated bands are observed. The amide I modes appear slightly above 1700 cm(-1), but as a result of the fact that the C horizontal lineO bond in the carboxylic acid moiety is stronger than those of the amide carbonyls, the corresponding band appears near 1800 cm(-1). However, for the cyclic isomers of the tri-, tetra-, and pentapeptides, the carbonyl oxygen in the carboxylic acid group acts as a proton acceptor to form a very strong intramolecular hydrogen bond with the protonated amine terminus. This results in a weakening of the C horizontal lineO bond, such that the amide I modes are nearly identical in frequency to the carbonyl stretch of the carboxylic acid group.

Stabilization of zwitterionic structures of amino acids (Gly, Ala, Val, Leu, Ile, Ser and Pro) by ammonium ions in the gas phase.

The thermochemistry of gas-phase ion-molecule interactions and structures of a variety of clusters formed between protonated amino acids and either ammonia or amines have been studied by pulsed ionization high-pressure mass spectrometry (HPMS) and ab initio calculations. The enthalpy changes for the association reactions of protonated Gly, Ala, Val, Leu, Ile, Ser, and Pro with ammonia have been measured as -23.2, -21.9, -21.0, -20.8, -20.6, -22.6, and -20.4 kcal mol(-1), respectively. A very good linear relationship exists between the enthalpy changes and the proton affinities (PAs) of the amino acids, with an exception of Ser, where the hydroxyl substituent forms an extra hydrogen bond with ammonia. For the association reaction of protonated proline and methylamine, the measured enthalpy and entropy changes are -26.6 kcal mol(-1) and -30.1 cal mol(-1) K(-1), respectively. The experimental and calculated results indicate that the zwitterionic structure of proline may be well stabilized by CH3NH3(+). For the first time, the interaction strengths between these amino acids and NH4(+) have been obtained, and comparison with Na+ is discussed. Stabilization of zwitterionic structures of a series of amino acids (Gly, Ala, Val, Ser, and Pro) by various ammonium ions (NH4(+), CH3NH3(+), (CH3)2NH2(+), and (CH3)3NH+) has been investigated systematically. Energy decomposition analysis has been performed so that the salt bridge interaction strengths between zwitterionic amino acids and ammonium ions have been obtained. Some generalizations with respect to the relative stability of zwitterionic structures may be drawn. First, as the PA of an amino acid increases, within a series of Gly, Ala, Val, the zwitterionic structure becomes more energetically favorable relative to a non-zwitterionic isomer. Second, as the PA of an amine increases, the zwitterionic structure of a given amino acid within the complex becomes gradually less favorable. Third, compared to the other amino acids, Pro, the only secondary amine among the 20 naturally occurring amino acids, has a much more pronounced tendency to form the zwitterionic structure, which has been confirmed by the experimental results. Finally, substituents on the amino acid backbone that may participate in additional hydrogen bond interactions in non-zwitterionic isomer may render it more stable, as seen in Ser. These organic ammonium ions are found to be able to very effectively stabilize the zwitterionic structure of amino acids, even more effectively than metal ions, which aids significantly in the understanding of why zwitterionic structures exist extensively in biological systems.

A Universal Chemical Enrichment Method for Mapping the Yeast N-glycoproteome by Mass Spectrometry (MS)

Glycosylation is one of the most common and important protein modifications in biological systems. Many glycoproteins naturally occur at low abundances, which makes comprehensive analysis extremely difficult. Additionally, glycans are highly heterogeneous, which further complicates analysis in complex samples. Lectin enrichment has been commonly used, but each lectin is inherently specific to one or several carbohydrates, and thus no single or collection of lectin(s) can bind to all glycans. Here we have employed a boronic acid-based chemical method to universally enrich glycopeptides. The reaction between boronic acids and sugars has been extensively investigated, and it is well known that the interaction between boronic acid and diols is one of the strongest reversible covalent bond interactions in an aqueous environment. This strong covalent interaction provides a great opportunity to catch glycopeptides and glycoproteins by boronic acid, whereas the reversible property allows their release without side effects. More importantly, the boronic acid-diol recognition is universal, which provides great capability and potential for comprehensively mapping glycosylation sites in complex biological samples. By combining boronic acid enrichment with PNGase F treatment in heavy-oxygen water and MS, we have identified 816 N-glycosylation sites in 332 yeast proteins, among which 675 sites were well-localized with greater than 99% confidence. The results demonstrated that the boronic acid-based chemical method can effectively enrich glycopeptides for comprehensive analysis of protein glycosylation. A general trend seen within the large data set was that there were fewer glycosylation sites toward the C termini of proteins. Of the 332 glycoproteins identified in yeast, 194 were membrane proteins. Many proteins get glycosylated in the high-mannose N-glycan biosynthetic and GPI anchor biosynthetic pathways. Compared with lectin enrichment, the current method is more cost-efficient, generic, and effective. This method can be extensively applied to different complex samples for the comprehensive analysis of protein glycosylation.

Structures, energetics, and dynamics of gas phase ions studied by FTICR and HPMS.

Both Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FTICR-MS) and high-pressure mass spectrometry (HPMS) are very powerful tools in the field of gas phase ion chemistry. Many experimental method developments based on FTICR-MS and HPMS are summarized, including the coupling of a high-pressure external ion source to a FTICR mass spectrometer, blackbody infrared radiative dissociation (BIRD), coupling laser desorption ionization with HPMS, infrared multiple photon dissociation (IRMPD), radiative association and bimolecular routes to gas phase cluster ion formation. An abundance of thermochemical data, such as proton affinities, gas phase acidities, methyl cation affinities and metal cation affinities, have been obtained. Some of these data are the basis of the standard data listed in the NIST thermochemical databases. Ion-molecule interactions, energetics, reactivities, and structures of molecules have been extensively investigated using the methods developed based on HPMS and FTICR mass spectrometric techniques.

Comprehensive Analysis of Protein N-Glycosylation Sites by Combining Chemical Deglycosylation with LC–MS

Glycosylation is one of the most important protein modifications in biological systems. It plays a critical role in protein folding, trafficking, and stability as well as cellular events such as immune response and cell-to-cell communication. Aberrant protein glycosylation is correlated with several diseases including diabetes, cancer, and infectious diseases. The heterogeneity of glycans makes comprehensive identification of protein glycosylation sites very difficult by MS because it is challenging to match mass spectra to peptides that contain different types of unknown glycans. We combined a chemical deglycosylation method with LC-MS-based proteomics techniques to comprehensively identify protein N-glycosylation sites in yeast. On the basis of the differences in chemical properties between the amide bond of the N-linkage and the glycosidic bond of the O-linkage of sugars, O-linked sugars were removed and only the innermost N-linked GlcNAc remained, which served as a mass tag for MS analysis. This chemical deglycosylation method allowed for the identification of 555 protein N-glycosylation sites in yeast by LC-MS, which is 46% more than those obtained from the parallel experiments using the Endo H cleavage method. A total of 250 glycoproteins were identified, including 184 membrane proteins. This method can be extensively used for other biological samples.

IRMPD spectra of Gly.NH4+ and proton-bound betaine dimer : evidence for the smallest gas phase zwitterionic structures

Zwitterionic structures exist extensively in biological systems and the electric field resulting from zwitterion formation is the driving force for determination of the properties, function and activity of biological molecules, such as amino acids, peptides and proteins. It is of considerable interest and import to investigate the stabilization of zwitterionic structures in the gas phase. Infrared multiple photon dissociation (IRMPD) spectroscopy is a very powerful and sensitive technique, which may elucidate clearly the structures of both ions and ionic clusters in the gas phase, since it provides IR vibrational fingerprint information. The structures of the clusters of glycine and ammonium ion and of the betaine proton-bound homodimer have been investigated using IRMPD spectroscopy, in combination with electronic structure calculations. The experimental and calculated results indicate that zwitterionic structure of glycine may be effectively stabilized by an ammonium ion. This is the smallest zwitterionic structure of an amino acid to be demonstrated in the gas phase. On the basis of the experimental IRMPD and calculated results, it is very clear that a zwitterionic structure exists in the proton-bound betaine dimer. The proton is bound to one of the carboxylate oxygens of betaine, rather than being equally shared. Investigations of zwitterionic structures in the isolated state are essential for an understanding of the intrinsic characteristics of zwitterions and salt bridge interactions in biological systems.