SLiM-Enrich: computational assessment of protein-protein interaction data as a source of domain-motif interactions

Many important cellular processes involve protein–protein interactions (PPIs) mediated by a Short Linear Motif (SLiM) in one protein interacting with a globular domain in another. Despite their significance, these domain-motif interactions (DMIs) are typically low affinity, which makes them challenging to identify by classical experimental approaches, such as affinity pulldown mass spectrometry (AP-MS) and yeast two-hybrid (Y2H). DMIs are generally underrepresented in PPI networks as a result. A number of computational methods now exist to predict SLiMs and/or DMIs from experimental interaction data but it is yet to be established how effective different PPI detection methods are for capturing these low affinity SLiM-mediated interactions. Here, we introduce a new computational pipeline (SLiM-Enrich) to assess how well a given source of PPI data captures DMIs and thus, by inference, how useful that data should be for SLiM discovery. SLiM-Enrich interrogates a PPI network for pairs of interacting proteins in which the first protein is known or predicted to interact with the second protein via a DMI. Permutation tests compare the number of known/predicted DMIs to the expected distribution if the two sets of proteins are randomly associated. This provides an estimate of DMI enrichment within the data and the false positive rate for individual DMIs. As a case study, we detect significant DMI enrichment in a high-throughput Y2H human PPI study. SLiM-Enrich analysis supports Y2H data as a source of DMIs and highlights the high false positive rates associated with naïve DMI prediction. SLiM-Enrich is available as an R Shiny app. The code is open source and available via a GNU GPL v3 license at: https://github.com/slimsuite/SLiMEnrich. A web server is available at: http://shiny.slimsuite.unsw.edu.au/SLiMEnrich/.

SLiMScape 3.x: a Cytoscape 3 app for discovery of Short Linear Motifs in protein interaction networks

Short linear motifs (SLiMs) are small protein sequence patterns that mediate a large number of critical protein-protein interactions, involved in processes such as complex formation, signal transduction, localisation and stabilisation. SLiMs show rapid evolutionary dynamics and are frequently the targets of molecular mimicry by pathogens. Identifying enriched sequence patterns due to convergent evolution in non-homologous proteins has proven to be a successful strategy for computational SLiM prediction. Tools of the SLiMSuite package use this strategy, using a statistical model to identify SLiM enrichment based on the evolutionary relationships, amino acid composition and predicted disorder of the input proteins. The quality of input data is critical for successful SLiM prediction. Cytoscape provides a user-friendly, interactive environment to explore interaction networks and select proteins based on common features, such as shared interaction partners. SLiMScape embeds tools of the SLiMSuite package for de novo SLiM discovery (SLiMFinder and QSLiMFinder) and identifying occurrences/enrichment of known SLiMs (SLiMProb) within this interactive framework. SLiMScape makes it easier to (1) generate high quality hypothesis-driven datasets for these tools, and (2) visualise predicted SLiM occurrences within the context of the network. To generate new predictions, users can select nodes from a protein network or provide a set of Uniprot identifiers. SLiMProb also requires additional query motif input. Jobs are then run remotely on the SLiMSuite server ( http://rest.slimsuite.unsw.edu.au) for subsequent retrieval and visualisation. SLiMScape can also be used to retrieve and visualise results from jobs run directly on the server. SLiMScape and SLiMSuite are open source and freely available via GitHub under GNU licenses.

Whole CMV proteome pattern recognition analysis after HSCT identifies unique epitope targets associated with the CMV status

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection represents a vital complication after Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT). We screened the entire CMV proteome to visualize the humoral target epitope-focus profile in serum after HSCT. IgG profiling from four patient groups (donor and/or recipient +/− for CMV) was performed at 6, 12 and 24 months after HSCT using microarray slides containing 17174 of 15mer-peptides overlapping by 4 aa covering 214 proteins from CMV. Data were analyzed using maSigPro, PAM and the ‘exclusive recognition analysis (ERA)’ to identify unique CMV epitope responses for each patient group. The ‘exclusive recognition analysis’ of serum epitope patterns segregated best 12 months after HSCT for the D+/R+ group (versus D−/R−). Epitopes were derived from UL123 (IE1), UL99 (pp28), UL32 (pp150), this changed at 24 months to 2 strongly recognized peptides provided from UL123 and UL100. Strongly (IgG) recognized CMV targets elicited also robust cytokine production in T-cells from patients after HSCT defined by intracellular cytokine staining (IL-2, TNF, IFN and IL-17). High-content peptide microarrays allow epitope profiling of entire viral proteomes; this approach can be useful to map relevant targets for diagnostics and therapy in patients with well defined clinical endpoints. Peptide microarray analysis visualizes the breadth of B-cell immune reconstitution after HSCT and provides a useful tool to gauge immune reconstitution.

HiRIEF LC-MS enables deep proteome coverage and unbiased proteogenomics

We present a liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS)-based method permitting unbiased (gene prediction-independent) genome-wide discovery of protein-coding loci in higher eukaryotes. Using high-resolution isoelectric focusing (HiRIEF) at the peptide level in the 3.7-5.0 pH range and accurate peptide isoelectric point (pI) prediction, we probed the six-reading-frame translation of the human and mouse genomes and identified 98 and 52 previously undiscovered protein-coding loci, respectively. The method also enabled deep proteome coverage, identifying 13,078 human and 10,637 mouse proteins.

A conserved mammalian protein interaction network

Physical interactions between proteins mediate a variety of biological functions, including signal transduction, physical structuring of the cell and regulation. While extensive catalogs of such interactions are known from model organisms, their evolutionary histories are difficult to study given the lack of interaction data from phylogenetic outgroups. Using phylogenomic approaches, we infer a upper bound on the time of origin for a large set of human protein-protein interactions, showing that most such interactions appear relatively ancient, dating no later than the radiation of placental mammals. By analyzing paired alignments of orthologous and putatively interacting protein-coding genes from eight mammals, we find evidence for weak but significant co-evolution, as measured by relative selective constraint, between pairs of genes with interacting proteins. However, we find no strong evidence for shared instances of directional selection within an interacting pair. Finally, we use a network approach to show that the distribution of selective constraint across the protein interaction network is non-random, with a clear tendency for interacting proteins to share similar selective constraints. Collectively, the results suggest that, on the whole, protein interactions in mammals are under selective constraint, presumably due to their functional roles.

Patterns of indirect protein interactions suggest a spatial organization to metabolism

It has long been believed that cells organize their cytoplasm so as to efficiently channel metabolites between sequential enzymes. This metabolic channeling has the potential to yield higher metabolic fluxes as well as better regulatory control over metabolism. One mechanism for achieving such channeling is to ensure that sequential enzymes in a pathway are physically close to each other in the cell. We present evidence that indirect protein interactions between related enzymes represent a global mechanism for achieving metabolic channeling; the intuition being that protein interactions between enzymes and non-enzymatic mediator proteins are a powerful means of physically associating enzymes in a modular fashion. By analyzing the metabolic and protein-protein interactions networks of Escherichia coli, yeast and humans, we are able to show that all three species have many more indirect protein interactions linking enzymes that share metabolites than would be expected by chance. Moreover, these interactions are distributed non-randomly in the metabolic network. Our analyses in yeast and E. coli show that reactions possessing such interactions also show higher flux than do those lacking them. On the basis of these observations, we suggest that an important role of protein interactions with mediator proteins is to contribute to the spatial organization of the cell. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that these mediator proteins are also enriched with annotations related to signal transduction, a system where scaffolding proteins are known to limit cross-talk by controlling spatial localization.