Selective detection of phosphopeptides from proteolytic digests is a challenging and highly relevant task in many proteomics applications. Often phosphopeptides are present in small amounts and need selective isolation or enrichment before identification. Here we report a novel automated method for the enrichment of phosphopeptides from complex mixtures. The method employs a two-dimensional column setup, with titanium oxide-based solid-phase material (Titansphere) as the first dimension and reversed-phase material as the second dimension. Phosphopeptides are separated from nonphosphorylated peptides by trapping them under acidic conditions on a TiO(2) precolumn. Nonphosphorylated peptides break through and are trapped on a reversed-phase precolumn after which they are analyzed by nanoflow LC-ESI-MS/MS. Subsequently, phosphopeptides are desorbed from the TiO(2) column under alkaline conditions, reconcentrated onto the reversed-phase precolumn, and analyzed by nanoflow LC-ESI-MS/MS. The selectivity and practicality of using TiO(2) precolumns for trapping phosphopeptides are demonstrated via the analysis of a model peptide RKISASEF, in a 1:1 mixture of a non- and a monophosphorylated form. A sample of 125 fmol of the phosphorylated peptide could easily be isolated from the nonphosphorylated peptide with a recovery above 90%. In addition, proteolytic digests of three different autophosphorylation forms of the 153-kDa homodimeric cGMP-dependent protein kinase are analyzed. From proteolytic digests of the fully autophosphorylated protein at least eight phosphorylation sites are identified, including two previously uncharacterized sites, namely, Ser-26 and Ser-44. Ser-26 is characterized as a minor phosphorylation site in purified PKG samples, while Ser-44 is identified as a novel in vitro autophosphorylation target. These results clearly show that TiO(2) has strong affinity for phosphorylated peptides, and thus, we conclude that this material has a high potential in the field of phosphoproteomics.

Pluripotent stem cells self-renew indefinitely and possess characteristic protein-protein networks that remodel during differentiation. How this occurs is poorly understood. Using quantitative mass spectrometry, we analyzed the (phospho)proteome of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) during differentiation induced by bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) and removal of hESC growth factors. Of 5222 proteins identified, 1399 were phosphorylated on 3067 residues. Approximately 50% of these phosphosites were regulated within 1 hr of differentiation induction, revealing a complex interplay of phosphorylation networks spanning different signaling pathways and kinase activities. Among the phosphorylated proteins was the pluripotency-associated protein SOX2, which was SUMOylated as a result of phosphorylation. Using the data to predict kinase-substrate relationships, we reconstructed the hESC kinome; CDK1/2 emerged as central in controlling self-renewal and lineage specification. The findings provide new insights into how hESCs exit the pluripotent state and present the hESC (phospho)proteome resource as a complement to existing pluripotency network databases.

The effect of elevating the pressure in the interface region of an electrospray ionization orthogonal time-of-flight mass spectrometer on the ion intensity of different noncovalent protein assemblies has been investigated. Elevating the pressure in the interface region generally led to an enhanced detection of high m/z ions. The optimum pressure was found to be dependent on the m/z value of the ions. This pressure effect should be carefully addressed when relating ion abundance in the mass spectra to solution phase abundance of noncovalent protein assemblies.

Reversible protein phosphorylation ranks among the most important post-translational modifications, and elucidation of phosphorylation sites is essential to understand the regulation of key cellular processes such as signal transduction. Enrichment of phosphorylated peptides is a prerequisite for successful analysis due to their low stoichiometry, heterogeneity, and low abundance. Enrichment is often performed manually, which is inherently labor-intensive and a major hindrance in large-scale analyses. Automation of the enrichment method would vastly improve reproducibility and thereby facilitate 'high-throughput' phosphoproteomics research. Here, we describe a robust and automated online TiO 2-based two-dimensional chromatographic approach to selectively enrich phosphorylated peptides from digests of complete cellular lysates. We demonstrate method enhancement for both adsorption and desorption of phosphorylated peptides resulting in lower limits of detection. Phosphorylated peptides from a mere 500 attomole tryptic digest of a protein mixture were easily detected. With the combination of strong cation exchange chromatography with the online TiO 2 enrichment, 2152 phosphopeptides were enriched from 250 microg of protein originating for the cell lysate of Drosophila melanogaster S2 cells. This is a 4-fold improvement when compared to an enrichment strategy based solely on strong cation exchange/LC-MS. Phosphopeptide enrichment methods are intrinsically biased against relatively basic phosphopeptides. Analysis of the p I distributions of the enriched/detected phosphopeptides showed that the p I profile resembles that of a total Drosophila protein digest, revealing that the current described online procedure does not discriminate against either more acidic or basic phosphopeptides. However, careful comparison of our new and existing phosphopeptide enrichment techniques also reveal that, like many enrichment techniques, we are still far from comprehensive phosphoproteomics analyses, and we describe several factors that still require to be addressed. Still, as the online approach allows the complementary measurements of phosphopeptides and their nonphosphorylated counterparts in subsequent analyses, this method is well-suited for automated quantitative phosphoproteomics.

Besides well known ESC benchmarks, this subset included many uncharacterized proteins, some of which may be novel ESC-specific markers. To complement the mass spectrometric approach, differential expression of a selection of these proteins was confirmed by Western blotting, immunofluorescence confocal microscopy, and fluorescence-activated cell sorting. Additionally two other independently isolated and cultured human ESC lines as well as their differentiated derivatives were monitored for differential expression of selected proteins. Some of these proteins were identified exclusively in ESCs of all three human lines and may thus serve as generic ESC markers. Our wide scale proteomic approach enabled us to screen thousands of proteins rapidly and select putative ESC-associated proteins for further analysis. Validation by three independent conventional protein analysis techniques shows that our methodology is robust, provides an excellent tool to char-

No abstract

Early diagnosis is important for effective disease management. Measurement of biomarkers present at the local level of the skin could be advantageous in facilitating the diagnostic process. The analysis of the proteome of suction blister fluid, representative for the interstitial fluid of the skin, is therefore a desirable first step in the search for potential biomarkers involved in biological pathways of particular diseases. Here, we describe a global analysis of the suction blister fluid proteome as potential body fluid for biomarker proteins. The suction blister fluid proteome was compared with a serum proteome analyzed using identical protocols. By using stringent criteria allowing less than 1% false positive identifications, we were able to detect, using identical experimental conditions and amount of starting material, 401 proteins in suction blister fluid and 240 proteins in serum. As a major result of our analysis we construct a prejudiced list of 34 proteins, relatively highly and uniquely detected in suction blister fluid as compared to serum, with established and putative characteristics as biomarkers. We conclude that suction blister fluid might potentially serve as a good alternative biomarker body fluid for diseases that involve the skin.

The pH dependence of the catalytic parameters k(cat) and K(M) has been determined for the Fe(III)Fe(II)- and Fe(III)Zn(II)-forms of bovine spleen purple acid phosphatase (BSPAP). The parameter k(cat) was found to be maximal at pH 6.3, and a pK(a) of 5.4-5.5 was obtained for the acidic limb of the k(cat) vs pH profile. Two different EPR spectra were detected for the phosphate complex of the mixed-valent diiron enzyme; their relative amounts depended on the pH, with an apparent pK(a) of 6. The EPR spectra of Fe(III)Fe(II)-BSPAP.PO(4) and Fe(III)Zn(II)-BSPAP.PO(4) at pH 5.0 are similar to those previously reported for Fe(III)Fe(II)-Uf.PO(4) and Fe(III)Zn(II)-Uf.PO(4) complexes at pH 5.0. At higher pH, a new Fe(III)Fe(II)-BSPAP.PO(4) species is formed, with apparent g-values of 1.94, 1.71, and 1.50. The EPR spectrum of Fe(III)Zn(II)-BSPAP does not show significant changes upon addition of phosphate up to 30 mM at pH 6.5, suggesting that phosphate binds only to the spectroscopically silent Zn(II). To determine whether the phosphate complexes were good structural models for the enzyme substrate complexes, these complexes were studied using rapid-freeze EPR and stopped-flow optical spectroscopy. The stopped-flow studies showed the absence of burst kinetics at pH 7.0, which indicates that substrate hydrolysis is rate limiting, rather than phosphate release. The EPR spectrum of Fe(III)Fe(II)-BSPAP.p-NPP is similar, but not identical, to that of the corresponding phosphate complex, both at pH 5 and pH 6.5. We propose that both phosphate and p-NPP bridge the two metal ions at low pH. At higher pH where the enzyme is optimally active, we propose that hydroxide competes with phosphate and p-NPP for coordination to Fe(III) and that both phosphate and p-NPP coordinate only to the divalent metal ion.