Shotgun analysis of membrane proteomes using a novel combinative strategy of solution-based sample preparation coupled with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

Plasma membrane receptor-like kinases and transporters are associated with 2,4-D resistance in wild radish

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Resistance to the synthetic auxin 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) in wild radish (Raphanus raphanistrum) appears to be due to a complex, multifaceted mechanism possibly involving enhanced constitutive plant defence and alterations in auxin signalling. Based on a previous gene expression analysis highlighting the plasma membrane as being important for 2,4-D resistance, this study aimed to identify the components of the leaf plasma membrane proteome that contribute to resistance.

METHODS

Isobaric tagging of peptides was used to compare the plasma membrane proteomes of a 2,4-D-susceptible and a 2,4-D-resistant wild radish population under control and 2,4-D-treated conditions. Eight differentially abundant proteins were then targeted for quantification in the plasma membranes of 13 wild radish populations (two susceptible, 11 resistant) using multiple reaction monitoring.

KEY RESULTS

Two receptor-like kinases of unknown function (L-type lectin domain-containing receptor kinase IV.1-like and At1g51820-like) and the ATP-binding cassette transporter ABCB19, an auxin efflux transporter, were identified as being associated with auxinic herbicide resistance. The variability between wild radish populations suggests that the relative contributions of these candidates are different in the different populations.

CONCLUSIONS

To date, no receptor-like kinases have been reported to play a role in 2,4-D resistance. The lectin-domain-containing kinase may be involved in perception of 2,4-D at the plasma membrane, but its ability to bind 2,4-D and the identity of its signalling partner(s) need to be confirmed experimentally. ABCB19 is known to export auxinic compounds, but its role in 2,4-D resistance in wild radish appears to be relatively minor.

Extraction, Enrichment, Solubilization, and Digestion Techniques for Membrane Proteomics

The importance of membrane proteins in biological systems is indisputable; however, their amphipathic nature makes them difficult to analyze. In this study, the most popular techniques for extraction, enrichment, solubilization, and digestion are compared, resulting in an overall improved workflow for the insoluble portion of Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell lysate. Yeast cells were successfully lysed using a French press pressure cell at 20 000 psi, and resulting proteins were fractionated prior to digestion to reduce sample complexity. The proteins were best solubilized with the addition of ionic detergent sodium deoxycholate (1%) and through the application of high-frequency sonication prior to a tryptic digestion at 37 °C. Overall, the improved membrane proteomic workflow resulted in a 26% increase in membrane protein identifications for baker's yeast. In addition, more membrane protein identifications were unique to the improved protocol. When comparing membrane proteins that were identified in the improved protocol and the standard operating procedure (176 proteins), 93% of these proteins were present in greater abundance (higher intensity) when using the improved method.

Optimization of human dendritic cell sample preparation for mass spectrometry-based proteomic studies

Dendritic cells (DCs) are specialized leukocytes that orchestrate the adaptive immune response. Mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomic study of these cells presents technical challenges, especially when the DCs are human in origin due to the paucity of available biological material. Here, to maximize MS coverage of the global human DC proteome, different cell disruption methods, lysis conditions, protein precipitation, and protein pellet solubilization and denaturation methods were compared. Mechanical disruption of DC cell pellets under cryogenic conditions, coupled with the use of RIPA (radioimmunoprecipitation assay) buffer, was shown to be the method of choice based on total protein extraction and on the solubilization and identification of nuclear proteins. Precipitation by acetone was found to be more efficient than that by 10% trichloroacetic acid (TCA)/acetone, allowing in excess of 28% more protein identifications. Although being an effective strategy to eliminate the detergent residue, the acetone wash step caused a loss of protein identifications. However, this potential drawback was overcome by adding 1% sodium deoxycholate into the dissolution buffer, which enhanced both solubility of the precipitated proteins and digestion efficiency. This in turn resulted in 6 to 11% more distinct peptides and 14 to 19% more total proteins identified than using 0.5M triethylammonium bicarbonate alone, with the greatest increase (34%) for hydrophobic proteins.

Enhanced SDC-assisted digestion coupled with lipid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry for shotgun analysis of membrane proteome

Despite the biological importance of membrane proteins, their analysis has lagged behind that of soluble proteins and still presents a great challenge mainly because of their highly hydrophobic nature and low abundance. Sodium deoxycholate (SDC)-assisted digestion strategy has been introduced in our previous papers, which cleverly circumvents many of the challenges in shotgun membrane proteomics. However, it is associated with significant sample loss due to the slightly weaker extraction/solubilization ability of 1% SDC. In this study, an enhanced SDC-assisted digestion method (ESDC method) was developed that incorporates the almost strongest ability of SDC with a high concentration (5%) to lyse membrane and extract/solubilize hydrophobic membrane proteins, and then dilution to 1% for more efficient digestion. The comparative study using rat liver membrane-enriched sample showed that, compared with previous SDC-assisted method and the "universal" filter-aided sample preparation (FASP) method, the ESDC method not only increased the identified number of total proteins, membrane proteins, hydrophobic proteins, integral membrane proteins (IMPs) and IMPs with more than 5 transmembrane domains (TMDs) by an average of 10.8%, 13.2%, 17.8%, 17.9% and 52.9%, respectively, but also enhanced the identified number of total peptides and hydrophobic peptides by averagely 12.5% and 14.2%. These results demonstrated that the ESDC method provides a substantial improvement in the recovery and identification of membrane proteins, especially those with high hydrophobicity and multiple TMDs, and thereby displaying more potential for shotgun membrane proteomics.

Improved protease digestion conditions for membrane protein detection

This work presents improved protease digestion conditions for membrane protein detection. The enzymatic digest of bacteriorhodopsin (BR), a model membrane protein with seven transmembrane domains (TMDs) was investigated. An initial in-gel digestion identified 17% BR sequence coverage, including part of the seventh TMD. To improve sequence coverage, BR digest was tested with different concentrations of RapiGest, methanol (MeOH) and SDS using either trypsin or chymotrypsin. Two improved conditions, 0.01% SDS or the combination of 10% MeOH and 0.01% RapiGest, were chosen. Trypsin digestions in both conditions achieved more than 40% BR sequence coverage compared to 0% using standard digestion conditions. Peptides detected from trypsin and chymotrypsin digestions in the same condition were combined to maximize sequence coverage. The same conditions were applied to a different membrane protein with one TMD, Selenoprotein S, and proteins from Escherichia coli. For Selenoprotein S, a higher sequence coverage, including a peptide from the TMD, was detected from the improved condition compared to the typical condition. The application of both improved conditions to a membrane protein fraction of Escherichia coli resulted in the identification of 309 (SDS) and 329 (MeOH/RapiGest) unique proteins of which 140/309 and 148/329 were membrane proteins.

Fully automatable multidimensional reversed-phase liquid chromatography with online tandem mass spectrometry

Liquid chromatography (LC) is essential for sample fractionation in shotgun proteomics applications. With suitable design, common LC separation chemistries, including reversed-phase (RP) and strong cation exchange (SCX) mode, can be combined in online multidimensional LC to greatly enhance the overall separation power and, thus, proteome coverage. This protocol describes the design and assembly of a flexible online multidimensional RP-SCX-RP LC system that is compatible with deep proteome profiling on common shotgun proteomics platforms.

Sample preparation for the analysis of membrane proteomes by mass spectrometry

The low abundance and highly hydrophobic nature of most membrane proteins make their analysis more difficult than that for common soluble proteins. Successful membrane protein identification is largely dependent on the sample preparation including the enrichment and dissolution of the membrane proteins. A series of conventional and newly developed methods has been applied to the enrichment of low-abundance membrane proteins at membrane and/or protein levels and to the dissolution of hydrophobic membrane proteins. However, all the existing methods have inherent advantages and limitations. Up to now, there has been no unique method that can universally be employed to solve all the problems and more efforts are needed in improving sample preparation for the analysis of membrane proteomes.