The use of plasma desorption time-of-flight mass spectrometry to screen for products of prohormone processing in crude tissue extracts

Localization of an O-glycosylated site in the recombinant barley alpha-amylase 1 produced in yeast and correction of the amino acid sequence using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry of peptide mixtures

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) of peptide mixtures was used to characterize recombinant barley alpha-amylase 1, produced in yeast. Three peptide mixtures were generated by cleavage with CNBr, digestion with endoproteinase Lys-C and Asp-N, respectively, and analyzed directly by MALDI-MS. Based on the three mass spectrometric peptide maps, an error in the sequence deduced from cDNA, resulting in a mass difference of 28 Da, was located to a sequence stretch of 5 amino acid residues; furthermore, a dihexose substituent was identified on Thr410. Subsequent Edman degradation of two selected peptides isolated from the endoproteinase Lys-C digest corrected the sequence to be Val instead of Ala in position 284 and confirmed the O-glycosylation. These results demonstrate that the direct peptide mixture analysis by MALDI-MS is a rapid and sensitive method for protein characterization and provides valuable information before further characterization.

The primary structure of glucagon-like peptide but not insulin has been conserved between the American eel, Anguilla rostrata and the European eel, Anguilla anguilla

Insulin was isolated from the pancreas of the American eel, Anguilla rostrata, and its primary structure was established as (Formula: see text). Eel insulin contains unusual substitutions at B-21, B-22, and B-26 in the putative receptor-binding region of the molecule compared with other mammalian and fish insulins. The A-chain of insulin from the European eel contains an asparagine rather than a serine residue at position A-12. Similarly, amino acid composition data indicate the B-chain of insulin from the European eel is appreciably different from that from the American eel. The primary structure of glucagon-like peptide (GLP) from the American eel is identical to that from the European eel, Anguilla anguilla. The primary structure of the peptide was established as (Formula: see text). Fast-atom bombardment mass spectrometry demonstrated that the COOH-terminal arginyl residue is alpha-amidated. The strong evolutionary pressure to conserve the structure of GLP provides further support for the assertion that the peptide plays an important regulatory role in teleost fish.

Neuropeptide Y-related peptides from the pancreas of a teleostean (eel), holostean (bowfin) and elasmobranch (skate) fish

Homologous peptides belonging to the pancreatic polypeptide (PP) family were isolated from the pancreas of a teleostean fish, the American eel (Anguilla rostrata), an holostean fish, the bowfin (Amia calva) and an elasmobranch fish, the skate (Raja rhina), and their primary structures were determined. The peptides show stronger homology to neuropeptide Y, particularly in their COOH-terminal regions, than to peptide YY or pancreatic polypeptide and contain an alpha-amidated COOH-terminal tyrosine residue. The skate peptide Tyr-Pro-Pro-Lys-Pro-Glu-Asn-Pro-Gly-Asp10-Asp-Ala-Ala-Pro-Glu-Glu- Leu-Ala-Lys- Tyr20-Tyr-Ser-Ala-Leu-Arg-His-Tyr-Ile-Asn-Leu30-Ile-Thr-Arg- Gln-Arg-Tyr-NH2 represents the first member of the PP family to be isolated from a cartilaginous fish. The primary structure of the pancreatic PP family peptide has been more strongly conserved among the phylogenetically more ancient holostean and elasmobranch fishes than among the teleosts. A comparison of the primary structures of all PP family peptides supports the hypothesis and evolution has acted to conserve features of tertiiary structure in the molecules (e.g., the polyproline- and alpha-helices) rather than individual amino acid residues.

Post-translational processing of prepro-urotensin II

The primary structure of a teleost prepro-urotensin II may be deduced from the nucleotide sequence of cloned DNA complementary to carp prepro-urotensin II mRNA but the pathway of post-translational processing of the precursor is unknown. In this study, we have isolated four peptides from an extract of flounder urophysis that are derived from prepro-urotensin II by proteolytic cleavage. The amino acid sequences of the peptides demonstrate that flounder prepro-urotensin II is cleaved at two monobasic processing sites (single arginine residues) to generate peptides with limited homology to carp prepro-urotensin II-(22-41)-, -(42-87)- and -(88-110)-peptides. Cleavage at a tribasic residue processing site generates a urotensin II with the primary structure: Ala-Gly-Thr-Thr-Glu-Cys-Phe-Trp-Lys-Tyr-Cys-Val. Urotensin II-(4-12)-peptide represented a minor component in the extract.

Identification of disulfide-containing peptides in endocrine tissue extracts by HPLC-electrochemical detection and mass spectrometry

A new procedure to selectively identify disulfide-containing peptides in extracts of biological tissues is described. Disulfide-containing peptides are detected by their UV absorbance and electrochemical (EC) activity after chromatographic separation, and subsequently identified by fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry (FABMS). This combination of fractionation by HPLC and selective detection is attractive because it is rapid, highly specific for disulfide-containing peptides, and applicable to all disulfide-containing peptides that may be present in complex biological mixtures. Useful procedures for applying the method are demonstrated with tissue extracts from bovine pituitary and catfish pancreas. In addition to finding the expected disulfide-containing peptides, evidence for two forms of catfish insulin are presented. The merits of this and other methods used to detect peptides in similar tissue extracts are discussed.

Mass spectrometric charting of bovine posterior/intermediate pituitary peptides

The feasibility for charting neuropeptides in neuroendocrine tissues on the basis of the universal property and inherent specificity of their molecular weights was explored. As a model, a comprehensive MS analysis of extractable peptides from bovine posterior/intermediate pituitary was performed. Two suitable MS techniques--namely, plasma-desorption time-of-flight and fast atom bombardment MS--were evaluated, and each method could identify more than 20 peptides, including N-terminally acetylated and C-terminally amidated species. In toto these peptides account for almost the entire lengths of propressophysin, prooxyphysin, and proopiomelanocortin. Some of the experimentally determined molecular weights did not match any known peptides. Three of these species were identified as acidic joining peptide (4-24) [proopiomelanocortin(83-103)], C-terminal glycopeptide(22-39) [propressophysin(130-147)], and glycosylated C-terminal glycopeptide(1-19) [propressophysin(109-127)] by conventional sequence analysis.

Time-of-flight mass spectrometry: an increasing role in the life sciences

Although available commercially since the mid-1950s, there has been a renewed and increasing interest in time-of-flight mass spectrometers during the last decade or more. Improvements have been made in mass resolution; and high-speed data acquisition systems have been developed which enable the recording of all ions in each time-of-flight cycle. Most importantly, these instruments have been coupled with several new ionization techniques, which are capable of desorbing the relatively large and intractable biopolymers whose structures are of interest to molecular biologists, biochemists and biophysicists. Primarily these are techniques which employ pulsed lasers, fission fragments and pulsed ion beams, for which a 'non-scanning' and/or high-transmission analyzer provides considerable analytical advantage. In this report we review some basic principles of the time-of-flight mass analyzer, highlighting efforts to improve dynamic focusing for instruments forming ions in the gas phase and static focusing for desorption instruments, and the progression from time-slice to time-array detection. We also review some of the accomplishments of instruments employing the time-of-flight analyzer, including: molecular weight determinations for peptides and small proteins; the analysis of tryptic digests, crude extracts and whole cells; the structural analysis of glycolipids, phospholipids and lipopolysaccharides; and the determination of covalent and metal-linked peptide dimers. We conclude with some recent developments in combining the time-of-flight analyzer with liquid chromatography using the continuous flow probe technique.