A strategy for identification of protein tyrosine phosphorylation

Using Linear Motif Database Resources to Identify SH2 Domain Binders

The SH2-binding phosphotyrosine class of short linear motifs (SLiMs) are key conditional regulatory elements, particularly in signaling protein complexes beneath the cell's plasma membrane. In addition to transmitting cellular signaling information, they can also play roles in cellular hijack by invasive pathogens. Researchers can take advantage of bioinformatics tools and resources to predict the motifs at conserved phosphotyrosine residues in regions of intrinsically disordered protein. A candidate SH2-binding motif can be established and assigned to one or more of the SH2 domain subgroups. It is, however, not so straightforward to predict which SH2 domains are capable of binding the given candidate. This is largely due to the cooperative nature of the binding amino acids which enables poorer binding residues to be tolerated when the other residues are optimal. High-throughput peptide arrays are powerful tools used to derive SH2 domain-binding specificity, but they are unable to capture these cooperative effects and also suffer from other shortcomings. Tissue and cell type expression can help to restrict the list of available interactors: for example, some well-studied SH2 domain proteins are only present in the immune cell lineages. In this article, we provide a table of motif patterns and four bioinformatics strategies that introduce a range of tools that can be used in motif hunting in cellular and pathogen proteins. Experimental followup is essential to determine which SH2 domain/motif-containing proteins are the actual functional partners.

Temporal characterization of the non-structural Adenovirus type 2 proteome and phosphoproteome using high-resolving mass spectrometry

The proteome and phosphoproteome of non-structural proteins of Adenovirus type 2 (Ad2) were time resolved using a developed mass spectrometry approach. These proteins are expressed by the viral genome and important for the infection process, but not part of the virus particle. We unambiguously confirm the existence of 95% of the viral proteins predicted to be encoded by the viral genome. Most non-structural proteins peaked in expression at late time post infection. We identified 27 non-redundant sites of phosphorylation on seven different non-structural proteins. The most heavily phosphorylated protein was the DNA binding protein (DBP) with 15 different sites. The phosphorylation occupancy rate could be calculated and monitored with time post infection for 15 phosphorylated sites on various proteins. In the DBP, phosphorylations with time-dependent relation were observed. The findings show the complexity of the Ad2 non-structural proteins and opens up a discussion for potential new drug targets.

Phosphoproteomic Analysis of Isolated Mitochondria in Yeast

Mitochondria play a central role in cellular energy metabolism and cell death. Deregulation of mitochondrial functions is associated with several human pathologies (neurodegenerative diseases, neuromuscular diseases, type II diabetes, obesity, cancer). The steadily increasing number of identified mitochondrial phosphoproteins, kinases, and phosphatases in recent years suggests that reversible protein phosphorylation plays an important part in the control of mitochondrial processes. In addition, many mitochondrial phosphoproteins probably still remain to be identified, considering that 30% of proteins are expected to be phosphorylated in eukaryotes. In this chapter, we describe two procedures for the analysis of the mitochondrial phosphoproteome. The first one is a qualitative method that combines blue native and sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2D-BN/SDS-PAGE) and specific phosphoprotein staining. The second one is a quantitative approach that associates mitochondrial peptide labeling, phosphopeptide enrichment, and mass spectrometry.

Analysis of Phosphotyrosine Signaling Networks in Lung Cancer Cell Lines

Robust isolation and identification of peptides phosphorylated at their tyrosine residues are key steps in deciphering complex signaling networks governed by protein tyrosine kinases, including kinases involved in oncogenesis. Phosphotyrosine (pY)-containing peptides are commonly isolated from cellular lysates by means of antibody and/or metal affinity-based enrichment followed by their identification by mass spectrometry. Herein, we describe robust two-stage isolation of phosphotyrosine peptides and mass spectrometry-aided identification of phosphosites to characterize basal signaling networks in unstimulated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell lines.

Identification of putative phosphoproteins in wheat spikes induced by Fusarium graminearum

Phosphorylation and dephosphorylation events were initiated in wheat scab resistance. The putative FHB-responsive phosphoproteins are mainly involved in three functional groups and contain at least one tyrosine, serine, or threonine phosphorylation site. Fusarium head blight (FHB), caused by Fusarium graminearum, is a severe disease in wheat. Protein phosphorylation plays an important role in plant-pathogen interactions, however, a global analysis of protein phosphorylation in response to FHB infection remains to be explored. To study the effect of FHB on the phosphorylation state of wheat proteins, proteins extracted from spikes of a resistant wheat cultivar after 6 h of inoculation with F. graminearum or sterile H2O were separated by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, and then the immunodetection of putative phosphoproteins was conducted by Western blotting using specific anti-phosphotyrosine antibody, anti-phosphothreonine antibody and anti-phosphoserine antibody. A total of 35 phosphorylated signals was detected and protein identities of 28 spots were determined. Functional categorization showed that the putative FHB-responsive phosphoproteins were mainly involved in defense/stress response, signal transduction, and metabolism. The phosphorylation status of proteins associated with signaling pathways mediated by salicylic acid, calcium ions, small GTPase, as well as with detoxification, reactive oxygen species scavenging, antimicrobial compound synthesis, and cell wall fortification was regulated in wheat spikes in response to F. graminearum infection. The present study reveals dynamics of wheat phosphoproteome in response to F. graminearum infection and suggests an important role of protein Ser/Thr/Tyr phosphorylation in fundamental mechanisms of wheat scab resistance.

Phosphopeptide immuno-affinity enrichment to enhance detection of tyrosine phosphorylation in plants

Tyrosine (Tyr) phosphorylation plays an essential role in signaling in animal systems, but the relative contribution of Tyr phosphorylation to plant signal transduction has, until recently, remained an open question. One of the major issues hampering the analysis is the low abundance of Tyr phosphorylation and therefore underrepresentation in most mass spec-based proteomic studies. Here, we describe a working approach to selectively enrich Tyr-phosphorylated peptides from complex plant tissue samples. We describe a detailed protocol that is based on immuno-affinity enrichment step using an anti-phospho-tyrosine (pTyr)-specific antibody. This single enrichment strategy effectively enriches pTyr-containing peptides from complex total plant cell extracts, which can be measured by LC-MS/MS without further fractionation or enrichment.

Optimization of titanium dioxide and immunoaffinity-based enrichment procedures for tyrosine phosphopeptide using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Tyrosine phosphorylation is an important regulator of signaling in cellular pathways, and dysregulated tyrosine phosphorylation causes several diseases. Mass spectrometry has revealed the importance of global phosphoproteomic characterization. Analysis of tyrosine phosphorylation by studying the mass-spectrometry (MS)-determined phosphoproteome remains difficult because of the relatively low abundance of tyrosine phosphoproteins. To effectively evaluate tyrosine-phosphopeptide enrichment and reduce ion suppression from non-phosphorylated peptides in MS analysis, three trypsin-digested BSA peptides and 14 standard phosphopeptides, including six tyrosine phosphopeptides, four serine phosphopeptides, and four threonine phosphopeptides, were subjected to titanium dioxide immunoaffinity-based enrichment and also to combined enrichment using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analyses. The enrichment factors were evaluated to determine the efficiency of each enrichment procedure. Comparison of five optimized enrichment methods, including TiO2-based immunoaffinity purification in Tris and MOPS buffer systems, TiO2-immunoaffinity enrichment, and immunoaffinity-TiO2 enrichment for total tyrosine, serine and threonine phosphopeptides, revealed that the order of the enrichment factors for total tyrosine phosphopeptides is: (i) immunoaffinity-TiO2 (enrichment factor = 38,244), (ii) TiO2-immunoaffinity (enrichment factor = 24,987), (iii) TiO2 micro-column (enrichment factor = 10,305), (iv) immunoaffinity in Tris buffer system (enrichment factor = 1450), and (v) immunoaffinity in the MOPS buffer system (enrichment factor = 32). These results reveal that an alternative enrichment scheme before use of a TiO2 micro-column, using immunoaffinity 4G10 and PY99 antibody enrichment under optimized conditions, can provide greater selectivity for tyrosine-phosphopeptide enrichment.

Tyrosine phosphorylation profiling via in situ proximity ligation assay

Background

Tyrosine phosphorylation (pTyr) is an important cancer relevant posttranslational modification since it regulates protein activity and cellular localization. By controlling cell growth and differentiation it plays an important role in tumor development. This paper describes a novel approach for detection and visualization of a panel of pTyr proteins in tumors using in situ proximity ligation assay.

Methods

K562 leukemia cells were treated with tyrosine kinase and/or phosphatase inhibitors to induce differences in pTyr levels and mimic cells with different malignant properties. Cells were then probed with one antibody against the pTyr modification and another probe against the detected protein, resulting in a detectable fluorescent signal once the probes were in proximity.

Results

Total and protein specific pTyr levels on ABL, SHC, ERK2 and PI3K proteins were detected and samples of control and treated cells were distinguished at the pTyr level using this novel approach. Promising results were also detected for formalin fixed and paraffin embedded cells in the micro array format.

Conclusions

This application of in situ proximity ligation assay is valuable in order to study the pTyr modification of a panel of proteins in large data sets to validate mass spectrometric data and to be combined with tissue microarrays. The approach offers new opportunities to reveal the pTyr signatures in cells of different malignant properties that can be used as biomarker of disease in the future.

Proteome analysis of adenovirus using mass spectrometry

Analysis of proteins and their posttranslational modifications is important for understanding different biological events. For analysis of viral proteomes, an optimal protocol includes production of a highly purified virus that can be investigated with a high-resolving analytical method. In this Methods in Molecular Biology paper we describe a working strategy for how structural proteins in the Adenovirus particle can be studied using liquid chromatography-high-resolving mass spectrometry. This method provides information on the chemical composition of the virus particle. Further, knowledge about amino acids carrying modifications that could be essential for any part of the virus life cycle is collected. We describe in detail alternatives available for preparation of virus for proteome analysis as well as choice of mass spectrometric instrumentation suitable for this kind of analysis.

The phosphoproteome of the adenovirus type 2 virion

We have used a proteomics approach to identify sites of phosphorylation in the structural proteins of the Adenovirus type 2 particle. This protein modification might play an important role during infection. Peptides from highly purified virus were enriched for phosphorylations and analyzed by liquid chromatography-high-resolving mass spectrometry. Phosphorylations were identified in 11 structural peptides and 29 non-redundant phosphorylation sites were unambiguously assigned to specific amino acid. An unexpected result was the finding of phosphotyrosine in two of the viral polypeptides. The most highly phosphorylated protein was pIIIa with 12 identified phosphorylation sites. An identified preference for proline or leucine residue flanking the phosphorylation sites downstream suggests that cellular kinases are involved in many of the phosphorylations. Structural modeling showed that one site in the hexon is located on the outer side of the virus and could be of importance for the virus when attaching and entering cells.