Highlights d Discovery of prognosis-associated proteins and pathways at early stage of LUAD d Proteomics revealed three subtypes related to clinical and molecular features d Identification of subtype-specific kinases and cancerassociated phosphoproteins d Identification of potential prognostic biomarkers and drug targets in LUAD

The current in-depth proteomics makes use of long chromatography gradient to get access to more peptides for protein identification, resulting in covering of as many as 8000 mammalian gene products in 3 days of mass spectrometer running time. Here we report a fast sequencing (Fast-seq) workflow of the use of dual reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography -mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) with a short gradient to achieve the same proteome coverage in 0.5 day. We adapted this workflow to a quantitative version (Fast quantification, Fast-quan) that was compatible to large-scale protein quantification. We subjected two identical samples to the Fast-quan workflow, which allowed us to systematically evaluate different parameters that impact the sensitivity and accuracy of the workflow. Using the statistics of significant test, we unraveled the existence of substantial falsely quantified differential proteins and estimated correlation of false quantification rate and parameters that are applied in label-free quantification. We optimized the setting of parameters that may substantially minimize the rate of falsely quantified differential proteins, and further applied them on a real biological process. With improved efficiency and throughput, we expect that the Fast-seq/Fast-quan workflow, allowing pair wise comparison of two proteomes in 1 day may make MS available to the masses and impact biomedical research in a positive way. Molecular & Cellular Proteomics 12: 10.1074/mcp.M112.025023, 2370-2380, 2013.The performance of mass spectrometry has been improved tremendously over the last few years (1-3), making mass spectrometry-based proteomics a viable approach for largescale protein analysis in biological research. Scientists around the world are striving to fulfill the promise of identifying and quantifying almost all gene products expressed in a cell line or tissue. This would make mass spectrometry-based protein analysis an approach that is compatible to the second-generation mRNA deep-seq technique (4, 5).Two liquid chromatography (LC)-MS strategies have been employed to achieve deep proteome coverage. One is a single run with a long chromatography column and gradient to take advantage of the resolving power of HPLC to reduce the complexity of peptide mixtures; the other is a sequential run with two-dimensional separation (typically ion-exchange and reverse phase) to reduce peptide complexity. It was reported by two laboratories that 2761 and 4500 proteins were identified with a 10 h chromatography gradient on a dual pressure linear ion-trap orbitrap mass spectrometer (LTQ Orbitrap Velos)(6 -8). Similarly, 3734 proteins were identified using a 8 h gradient on a 2 m long column with a hybrid triple quadrupole -time of flight (Q-TOF, AB sciex 5600 Q-TOF)(9) mass spectrometer. The two-dimensional approach has yielded more identification with longer time. For example, 10,006 proteins (representing over 9000 gene products, GPs) 1 were identified in U2OS cell (10), and 10,255 proteins (representing 9207 GPs) from HeL...

BackgroundClostridium beijerinckii is a prominent solvent-producing microbe that has great potential for biofuel and chemical industries. Although transcriptional analysis is essential to understand gene functions and regulation and thus elucidate proper strategies for further strain improvement, limited information is available on the genome-wide transcriptional analysis for C. beijerinckii.ResultsThe genome-wide transcriptional dynamics of C. beijerinckii NCIMB 8052 over a batch fermentation process was investigated using high-throughput RNA-Seq technology. The gene expression profiles indicated that the glycolysis genes were highly expressed throughout the fermentation, with comparatively more active expression during acidogenesis phase. The expression of acid formation genes was down-regulated at the onset of solvent formation, in accordance with the metabolic pathway shift from acidogenesis to solventogenesis. The acetone formation gene (adc), as a part of the sol operon, exhibited highly-coordinated expression with the other sol genes. Out of the > 20 genes encoding alcohol dehydrogenase in C. beijerinckii, Cbei_1722 and Cbei_2181 were highly up-regulated at the onset of solventogenesis, corresponding to their key roles in primary alcohol production. Most sporulation genes in C. beijerinckii 8052 demonstrated similar temporal expression patterns to those observed in B. subtilis and C. acetobutylicum, while sporulation sigma factor genes sigE and sigG exhibited accelerated and stronger expression in C. beijerinckii 8052, which is consistent with the more rapid forespore and endspore development in this strain. Global expression patterns for specific gene functional classes were examined using self-organizing map analysis. The genes associated with specific functional classes demonstrated global expression profiles corresponding to the cell physiological variation and metabolic pathway switch.ConclusionsThe results from this work provided insights for further C. beijerinckii strain improvement employing system biology-based strategies and metabolic engineering approaches.

BackgroundSince chemosensory genes play key roles in insect behaviour, they can potentially be used as new targets for pest control. The cabbage beetle, Colaphellus bowringi, is a serious insect pest of cruciferous vegetables in China and other Asian countries. However, a systematic identification of the chemosensory genes expressed in the antennae has not been reported.ResultsWe assembled the antennal transcriptome of C. bowringi by using Illumina sequencing technology and identified 104 candidate chemosensory genes by analyzing transcriptomic data, which included transcripts encoding 26 odorant-binding proteins (OBPs), 12 chemosensory proteins (CSPs), four sensory neuron membrane proteins (SNMPs), 43 odorant receptors (ORs), nine ionotropic receptors (IRs), and ten gustatory receptors (GRs). The data obtained are similar to those found in other coleopteran species, suggesting that our approach successfully identified the chemosensory genes of C. bowringi. The expression patterns of 43 OR genes, some of which were predominately found in the antenna or associated with sex-biased expression, were analyzed using quantitative real time RT-PCR (qPCR).ConclusionsOur study revealed that a large number of chemosensory genes are expressed in C. bowringi. These candidate chemosensory genes and their expression profiles in various tissues provide further information on understanding their function in C. bowringi as well as other insects, and identifying potential targets to disrupt the odorant system in C. bowringi so that new methods for pest management can be developed.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12864-015-2236-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Gene-gene interaction may play important roles in complex disease studies, in which interaction effects coupled with single-gene effects are active. Many interaction models have been proposed since the beginning of the last century. However, the existing approaches including statistical and data mining methods rarely consider genetic interaction models, which make the interaction results lack biological or genetic meaning. In this study, we developed an entropy-based method integrating two-locus genetic models to explore such interaction effects. We performed our method to simulated and real data for evaluation. Simulation results show that this method is effective to detect gene-gene interaction and, furthermore, it is able to identify the best-fit model from various interaction models. Moreover, our method, when applied to malaria data, successfully revealed negative epistatic effect between sickle cell anemia and a þ -thalassemia against malaria.

Monoclonal antibodies are subjected to a wide variety of post-translational modifications (PTMs) that cause structural heterogeneity. Characterization and control of these modifications or quality attributes are critical to ensure antibody quality and to define any potential effects on the ultimate safety and potency of antibody therapeutics. The biopharmaceutical industry currently uses numerous tools to analyze these quality attributes individually, which requires substantial time and resources. Here, we report a simple and ultrafast bottom-up liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (uLC-MS) method with 5 min tryptic digestion to simultaneously analyze multiple modifications, including oxidation, deamidation, isomerization, glycation, glycosylation, and N-terminal pyro-glutamate formation, which can occur during antibody production in mammalian cell culture, during purification and/or on storage. Compared to commonly used preparation procedures, this uLC-MS method eliminates assay artifacts of falsely-increased Met oxidation, Asp isomerization, and Asn deamidation, a problem associated with long digestion times in conventional LC-MS methods. This simple, low artifact multi-attribute uLC-MS method can be used to quickly and accurately analyze samples at any stage of antibody drug development, in particular for clone and media selection during cell culture development.

A rare form of human ACAT1 mRNA, containing the optional long 5 -untranslated region, is produced as a 4.3-kelonucleotide chimeric mRNA through a novel interchromosomal trans-splicing of two discontinuous RNAs transcribed from chromosomes 1 and 7 (Li, B. L., Li, X. L., Duan, Z. J., Lee, O., Lin, S., Ma, Z. M., Chang, C. C., Yang, X. Y., Park, J. P., Mohandas, T. K., Noll, W., Chan, L., and Chang, T. Y. (1999) J. Biol. Chem. 274, 11060 -11071). To investigate its function, we express the chimeric ACAT1 mRNA in Chinese hamster ovary cells and show that it can produce a larger ACAT1 protein, with an apparent molecular mass of 56 kDa on SDS-PAGE, in addition to the normal, 50-kDa ACAT1 protein, which is produced from the ACAT1 mRNAs without the optional long 5 -untranslated repeat. To produce the 56-kDa ACAT1, acat1 sequences located at both chromosomes 7 and 1 are required. The 56-kDa ACAT1 can be recognized by specific antibodies prepared against the predicted additional amino acid sequence located upstream of the N-terminal of the ACAT1 ORF . The translation initiation codon for the 56-kDa protein is GGC, which encodes for glycine, as deduced by mutation analysis and mass spectrometry. Similar to the 50-kDa protein, when expressed alone, the 56-kDa ACAT1 is located in the endoplasmic reticulum and is enzymatically active. The 56-kDa ACAT1 is present in native human cells, including human monocyte-derived macrophages. Our current results show that the function of the chimeric ACAT1 mRNA is to increase the ACAT enzyme diversity by producing a novel isoenzyme. To our knowledge, our result provides the first mammalian example that a trans-spliced mRNA produces a functional protein.Acyl-coenzyme A:cholesterol acyltransferase (ACAT) 1 is an intracellular enzyme that plays important roles in lipid metabolism. It catalyzes the formation of cholesteryl esters, using long-chain fatty acyl coenzyme A and cholesterol as the two substrates. In mammals, two ACAT genes have been identified (reviewed in Refs. 1-4). The first ACAT gene, acat1, was identified by isolating a human cDNA (ACAT cDNA K1) that functionally complements a Chinese hamster ovary cell mutant (clone AC29) lacking endogenous ACAT activity (5). The second ACAT gene, acat2, was identified by homology cloning, based on the nucleotide sequence of ACAT1 cDNA. The ACAT1 and ACAT2 proteins share extensive sequence homology at their C-terminal halves but not at their N-terminals. Both enzymes are integral membrane proteins. Human ACAT1 (hACAT1) contains seven transmembranes (6), whereas hACAT2 contains only two detectable transmembranes (7). A conserved histidine (His-460 in hACAT1 and His-432 in hACAT2), located within a long stretch of hydrophobic residues, may serve as an active site for ACAT catalysis (7,8). Human ACAT1 message and protein are present in many tissues and various cell types examined, including adrenal, kidney, hepatocytes, Kupffer cells, intestinal enterocytes, fibroblasts, macrophages, and neurons in the brain (5, 9 -12). In contrast, abundant ACA...

Wailupemycins H (1) and I (2) with a new skeleton coupled two 6-(2-phenylnaphthalene-1-yl)pyrane-2-one nuclei to a –CH2– linkage were identified from the culture of Streptomyces sp. OUCMDZ-3434 associated with the marine algae, Enteromorpha prolifera. Compounds 1 and 2 are two new α-glucosidase inhibitors with the Ki/IC50 values of 16.8/19.7 and 6.0/8.3 μM, respectively. In addition, the absolute configurations of wailupemycins D (3) and E (4) are also resolved in this paper for the first time.