Metastasis from primary tumors remains a major problem for tumor therapy. In the search for markers of metastasis and more effective therapies, the tumor metabolome is relevant because of its importance to the malignant phenotype and metastatic capacity of tumor cells. Altered choline metabolism is a hallmark of cancer. More specifically, a decreased glycerophosphocholine (GPC) to phosphocholine (PC) ratio was reported in breast, ovarian, and prostate cancers. Improved strategies to exploit this altered choline metabolism are therefore required. However, the critical enzyme cleaving GPC to produce choline, the initial step in the pathway controlling the GPC/PC ratio, remained unknown. In the present work, we have identified the enzyme, here named EDI3 (endometrial differential 3). Purified recombinant EDI3 protein cleaves GPC to form glycerol-3-phosphate and choline. Silencing EDI3 in MCF-7 cells decreased this enzymatic activity, increased the intracellular GPC/PC ratio, and decreased downstream lipid metabolites. Downregulating EDI3 activity inhibited cell migration via disruption of the PKCα signaling pathway, with stable overexpression of EDI3 showing the opposite effect. EDI3 was originally identified in our screening study comparing mRNA levels in metastasizing and nonmetastasizing endometrial carcinomas. Both Kaplan-Meier and multivariate analyses revealed a negative association between high EDI3 expression and relapse-free survival time in both endometrial (P < 0.001) and ovarian (P = 0.029) cancers. Overall, we have identified EDI3, a key enzyme controlling GPC and choline metabolism. Because inhibition of EDI3 activity corrects the GPC/PC ratio and decreases the migration capacity of tumor cells, it represents a possible target for therapeutic intervention.

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Sporopollenin from the pollen of Typha angustifolia L. was exposed to a series of 36 subsequent acidic methanolysis procedures. The remaining decomposition products were investigated using several spectroscopic methods including Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), solid state 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (13C-CPMAS-NMR) and X-ray photoelectron spectrometry (XPS). Substantial weight losses of the sporopollenin material occur after each acidic methanolysis step, while FT-IR and 13C-CPMAS-NMR spectra display no noticeable differences after 12, 24 and 36 steps. These findings are interpreted as a hint that the sporopollenin polymer has a uniform composition, i.e. relatively small monomer moieties of similar primary structure are present. Moreover, the weight losses account for the presence of substantial amounts of ether linkages in the sporopollenin polymer.

In the past few years, the focus of phosphoproteomics has shifted from merely qualitative to quantitative and targeted studies. Tryptic digestion is a critical step that directly affects quantification and that can be impaired by phosphorylation. Therefore, we systematically characterized the digestion efficiency of 19 nonmodified and phosphorylated model peptides. Whereas we quantified a strong reduction of tryptic cleavage within phosphorylated PKA motifs (R)-R-X-pS/pT and also R-X-X-pT sequences, (R)-R-X-pY sequences were almost unaffected. Structural prediction implied the formation of salt bridges between R/K cleavage sites and phosphoamino acids pS/pT as the main reason for impaired tryptic digestion. We evaluated different conditions to optimize the digestion of such "resistant" phosphopeptides, yielding a substantial improvement of digestion efficiency. We performed a quantitative large-scale phosphoproteomic analysis of human platelets to validate our findings in a complex biological sample. Here, increasing trypsin concentrations up to a trypsin to peptide ratio of 1:10 led to a significant gain (i) in the overall number of phosphorylation sites (up to 9%) and (ii) in the intensities of individual phosphopeptides, thereby improving the sensitivity of phosphopeptide quantification. Still, for certain sequences, the negative impact of phosphorylation on digestion efficiency will further complicate the analysis of phosphorylation stoichiometry.

Silyl and acetyl derivatives of sporopollenin from the pollen of Typha angustifolia L. were prepared. The derivatized products were readily soluble in piperidine-d11 and could be investigated employing one- and two-dimensional proton and carbon NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) spectroscopy (1H,1H-COSY and 13C,1H-HETCOR techniques). For the first time, a two dimensional 13C,1H-HETCOR NMR spectrum of a sporopollenin could be obtained. The results underline the importance of derivatization techniques for obtaining two dimensional 13C-NMR spectra of sporopollenins. Moreover, piperidine turns out to be a more suitable solvent for sporopollenins than 2-aminoethanol, as it allows for higher solubilities, being important for 2D-NMR investigations. From the HETCOR and COSY spectra of the silylated and the acetylated Typha samples the occurrence of aliphatic polyhydroxy compounds as well as phenolic OH groups became evident.

A NMR microprobe based on microstrip technology suitable for investigations of volume-limited samples in the low nanoliter range was designed. NMR spectra of sample quantities in the 100 pmol range can be obtained with this probe in a few seconds. The planar geometry of the probe is easily adaptable to the size and geometry requirements of the samples.