Tryptic digestion followed by identification using mass spectrometry is an important step in many proteomic studies. Here, we describe the preparation of immobilized, acetylated trypsin for enhanced digestion efficacy in integrated protein analysis platforms. Complete digestion of cytochrome c was obtained with two types of modified-trypsin beads with a contact time of only 4 s, while corresponding unmodified-trypsin beads gave only incomplete digestion. The digestion rate of myoglobin, a protein known to be rather resistant to proteolysis, was not altered by acetylating trypsin and required a buffer containing 35% acetonitrile to obtain complete digestion. The use of acetylated-trypsin beads led to fewer interfering tryptic autolysis products, indicating an increased stability of this modified enzyme. Importantly, the modification did not affect trypsin's substrate specificity, as the peptide map of myoglobin was not altered upon acetylation of immobilized trypsin. Kinetic digestion experiments in solution with low-molecular-weight substrates and cytochrome c confirmed the increased catalytic efficiency (lower K(M) and higher k(cat)) and increased resistance to autolysis of trypsin upon acetylation. Enhancement of catalytic efficiency was correlated with the number of acetylations per molecule. The favorable properties of the new chemically modified trypsin reactor should make it a valuable tool in automated protein analysis systems.
We report a microfluidic chaotic micromixer with staggered herringbone grooves having a geometry optimized for fast mobile-phase modification at the interface of a two-dimensional liquid chromatography system.
Mammalian pancreatic-type ribonucleases (RNases) 1 represent single-copy genes in the genome of most investigated mammalian species, including Mus musculus and other murid rodents. However, in six species belonging to the genus Rattus and closely related taxa, several paralogous gene products were identified by Southern blotting and PCR amplifications of genomic sequences. Phylogenies of nucleotide and derived amino acid sequences were reconstructed by several procedures, with three Mus species as outgroup. Duplications of the RNase 1 occurred after the divergence of Niviventer cremoriventer and Leopoldamys edwardsi from the other investigated species. Four groups of paralogous genes could be identified from specific amino acid sequence features in each of them. Low ratios of nonsynonymous-to-synonymous substitutions and the paucity of pseudogene features suggest functional gene products. One of the RNase 1 genes of R. norvegicus is expressed in the pancreas. RNases 1 were isolated from pancreatic tissues of R. rattus and R. exulans and submitted to N-terminal amino acid sequence analysis. In R. rattus, the orthologue of the expressed gene of R. norvegicus was identified, but in R. exulans, two paralogous gene products were found. The gene encoding for one of these had not yet been found by PCR amplification of genomic DNA. A well-defined group of orthologous sequences found in five investigated species codes for very basic RNases. Northern blot analysis showed expression of messenger RNA for this RNase in the spleen of R. norvegicus, but the protein product could not be identified. Evolutionary rates of RNase 1, expressed as nucleotide substitutions per site per 10(3) million years (Myr), vary between 5 and 9 in the lines leading to Mus, Niviventer, and Lepoldamys (on the basis of an ancestral date of mouse/rat divergence of 12.2 Myr) and between 20 and 50 in the lines to the other sequences after divergence from Niviventer and Leopoldamys (5.5 Myr).
Phylogenetic analyses of secretory ribonucleases or RNases 1 have shown that gene duplication events, giving rise to three paralogous genes (pancreatic, seminal and brain RNase), occurred during the evolution of ancestral ruminants. A higher number of paralogous sequences are present in chevrotain (Tragulus javanicus), the earliest diverged taxon within the ruminants. Two pancreatic RNase sequences were identified, one encoding the pancreatic enzyme, the other encoding a pseudogene. The identity of the pancreatic enzyme was confirmed by isolation of the protein and N‐terminal sequence analysis. It is the most acidic pancreatic ribonuclease identified so far. Formation of the mature enzyme requires cleavage by signal peptidase of a peptide bond between two glutamic acid residues. The seminal‐type RNase gene shows features of a pseudogene, like orthologous genes in other ruminants investigated with the exception of the bovine species. The brain‐type RNase gene of chevrotain is expressed in brain tissue. A hybrid gene with a pancreatic‐type N‐terminal and a brain‐type C‐terminal sequence has been identified but nothing is known about its expression. Phylogenetic analysis of RNase 1 sequences of six ruminant, three other artiodactyl and two whale species support previous findings that two gene duplications occurred in a ruminant ancestor. Three distinct groups of pancreatic, seminal‐type and brain‐type RNases have been identified and within each group the chevrotain sequence it the first to diverge. In taxa with duplications of the RNase gene (ruminants and camels) the gene evolved at twice as fast than in taxa in which only one gene could be demonstrated; in ruminants there was an ≈ fourfold increase directly after the duplications and then a slowing in evolutionary rate.
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