Tandem Liquid Chromatography-tandem Mass Spectrometry Research Articles

Development of a cognitive function marker based on D-amino acid proportions using new chiral tandem LC-MS/MS systems

The incidence of dementia, a clinical symptom characterized by severe cognitive decline, is increasing worldwide. Predictive biomarkers are therefore required for early identification and management. D-amino acids in the brain contribute to cognitive function and are suggested as useful biomarkers for diagnosing dementia risk. To clarify their relationship with human cognitive decline, we developed an identification method of chiral metabolomics for detecting slight differences in chiral amino acid amounts. Chiral tandem liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry systems were applied for sensitive and selective amino acid species along with chiral species determination based on anion and zwitterion exchange mechanisms. In a comprehensive health cohort (cross-sectional study), we measured blood chiral amino acid levels from 305 women (65–80 years old) classified into Control, Mild-cognitive-Impairment (MCI), and Dementia groups using the Mini-Mental State Examination. MCI exhibited higher D-Pro (D-Pro/(D-Pro + L-Pro)) proportion vs the Control group, suggesting this proportion as a useful biomarker for MCI. Biomarker accuracy was improved in combination with D-Ser proportion. Receiver operating characteristics analysis of the Control vs. MCI proportion obtained area under the curve (0.80) with 70% sensitivity and 84% specificity at the optimal cutoff value (0.30). Thus, dementia monitoring can be improved by including trace D-amino acids measurements.

Multiplex Substrate Profiling by Mass Spectrometry for Kinases as a Method for Revealing Quantitative Substrate Motifs.

The more than 500 protein kinases comprising the human kinome catalyze hundreds of thousands of phosphorylation events to regulate a diversity of cellular functions; however, the extended substrate specificity is still unknown for many of these kinases. We report here a method for quantitatively describing kinase substrate specificity using an unbiased peptide library-based approach with direct measurement of phosphorylation by tandem liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) peptide sequencing (multiplex substrate profiling by mass spectrometry, MSP-MS). This method can be deployed with as low as 10 nM enzyme to determine activity against S/T/Y-containing peptides; additionally, label-free quantitation is used to ascertain catalytic efficiency values for individual peptide substrates in the multiplex assay. Using this approach we developed quantitative motifs for a selection of kinases from each branch of the kinome, with and without known substrates, highlighting the applicability of the method. The sensitivity of this approach is evidenced by its ability to detect phosphorylation events from nanogram quantities of immunoprecipitated material, which allows for wider applicability of this method. To increase the information content of the quantitative kinase motifs, a sublibrary approach was used to expand the testable sequence space within a peptide library of approximately 100 members for CDK1, CDK7, and CDK9. Kinetic analysis of the HIV-1 Tat (transactivator of transcription)-positive transcription elongation factor b (P-TEFb) interaction allowed for localization of the P-TEFb phosphorylation site as well as characterization of the stimulatory effect of Tat on P-TEFb catalytic efficiency.

Lysine 88 Acetylation Negatively Regulates Ornithine Carbamoyltransferase Activity in Response to Nutrient Signals

Ornithine carbamoyltransferase (OTC) is a key enzyme in the urea cycle to detoxify ammonium produced from amino acid catabolism. OTC deficiency is an X-linked genetic disorder ranging from fatal in newborns to hyperammonemia and anorexia in adults. Through affinity purification of acetylated peptides and mass spectrometry, we identified that OTC is acetylated on lysine residues, including Lys88, which is also mutated in OTC-deficient patients. OTC acetylation was confirmed to occur under physiological conditions. Biochemical characterizations revealed that OTC Lys88 acetylation decreases the affinity for carbamoyl phosphate, one of the two OTC substrates, and the maximum velocity, whereas the K(m) for ornithine, the other OTC substrate, is not affected. Furthermore, Lys88 acetylation is regulated by both extracellular glucose and amino acid availability, indicating that OTC activity may be regulated by cellular metabolic status. Our results provide an example of the novel mechanism of regulating metabolic enzyme activity through protein acetylation.

Exploring the Mitochondrial Proteome of the Ciliate Protozoon Tetrahymena thermophila: Direct Analysis by Tandem Mass Spectrometry

To date, direct analysis of mitochondrial proteomes has largely been limited to animals, fungi and plants. To broaden our knowledge of mitochondrial structure and function, and to provide additional insight into the evolution of this key eukaryotic organelle, we have undertaken the first comprehensive analysis of the mitochondrial proteome of a protist. Highly purified mitochondria from Tetrahymena thermophila, a ciliated protozoon, were digested exhaustively with trypsin and the resulting peptides subjected to tandem liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC/LC-MS/MS). In this way, we directly identified a total of 573 mitochondrial proteins, 545 of which are encoded by the nuclear genome and 28 by the mitochondrial genome. The latter number includes a novel, 44 residue protein (which we designate Ymf78) that had not been recognized during annotation of the T. thermophila mtDNA sequence. The corresponding gene, ymf78, is highly conserved in genomic position, size and sequence within the genus Tetrahymena. Our analysis has provided broad coverage of both membrane-bound and soluble proteins from the various submitochondrial compartments, with prominent representatives including components of the tricarboxylic acid cycle, Complexes I–IV of the electron transport chain and Complex V (ATP synthase), the mitochondrial transcription and translation machinery, the TOM and TIM protein translocases, various mitochondrial transporters, chaperonins (Cpn60, Hsp70, Hsp90), at least four FtsH family ATP-dependent metalloproteases implicated in m-AAA and i-AAA protease function, and enzymes involved in lipid, amino acid and coenzyme metabolism, as well as iron–sulfur cluster formation. Unexpectedly, six of the ten enzymes of glycolysis were found by MS analysis of purified T. thermophila mitochondria, whereas no hits were seen to any cytosolic ribosomal proteins. At least one of the glycolytic proteins, enolase, has an evident N-terminal extension that exhibits characteristics of a typical mitochondrial targeting peptide. As in other organisms, phylogenetic analysis of functionally annotated mitochondrial proteins demonstrates that <20% can be traced confidently to the α-proteobacterial lineage of Bacteria, emphasizing the chimeric evolutionary nature of the mitochondrial proteome. Notably, about 45% of the proteins identified in our analysis have no known function, and most of these do not have obvious homologs outside of the ciliate lineage. About two-thirds of these ORFan proteins have putative homologs in another ciliate, Paramecium tetraurelia, whereas the remainder appear to be Tetrahymena-specific. These results emphasize the power and importance of direct MS-based analysis of mitochondria in revealing novel mitochondrial proteins in different eukaryotic lineages. Our observations reinforce an emerging view of the mitochondrion as an evolutionarily flexible organelle, with novel proteins (and presumably functions) being added in a lineage-specific fashion to an ancient, highly conserved functional core, much of which was contributed by the presumptive α-proteobacterial symbiont from which the mitochondrial genome was derived.