温和过甲酸氧化辅助酶解结合液质联用技术鉴定大鼠大脑皮层质膜蛋白质

由于膜蛋白质尤其是内在膜蛋白的强疏水性,分析和鉴定质膜蛋白质仍然是以质谱为基础的蛋白质组学的方法中的一个难点.过甲酸氧化是一种应用广泛的打开二硫键的方法,温和的过甲酸试剂能完全的将半胱氨酸转化为半胱磺酸,将甲硫氨酸转化为甲硫氨酸砜,从而使目的蛋白更易溶于水介质.采用蔗糖密度梯度离心法纯化得到大鼠大脑皮层质膜,提取的质膜蛋白质经温和过甲酸氧化处理后经胰酶酶解消化得到肽段,利用LC-MS/MS对所得肽段进行质谱分析,采集的原始数据用Mascot软件进行库搜寻鉴定.此方法是研究质膜蛋白质的新方法,温和过甲酸氧化显示出很好的氧化效果却避免其它不利于鉴定的副反应.从大鼠大脑皮层膜提取物共鉴定出220种蛋白质,其中73种为整合膜蛋白,证明对质膜蛋白质直接进行温和过甲酸氧化然后酶解的方法辅助酶解可以有效的鉴定质膜蛋白质.     

嗜碱菌Alkalimonas amylolytica N10在不同pH条件下的膜蛋白差异表达研究

为了探讨嗜碱菌的嗜碱机制,对一株新型专性嗜碱菌(Alkalimonas amylolyticaN10)在不同pH条件下的差异膜蛋白质组进行了初步的研究。在3种pH条件下(pH值分别为8.4、9.4和10.4)培养的该菌的膜蛋白,通过8%~20%的梯度SDS-PAGE进行分离。经胶图图像和统计计算,7条电泳条带的相对染色强度随培养液的pH值变化而改变,其中仅有一条条带强度随pH值增高而增加。这些条带经胰蛋白酶胶内消化和高效液相色谱-电喷雾离子阱串联质谱(LC-MS/MS)分析,共鉴定出了12种蛋白质。其中4种膜蛋白已有报道直接或间接参与细胞pH稳态的保持,其他几种蛋白则是首次发现其表达水平与生活环境的pH变化可能相关。     

玉米根V-ATPase的A亚基磷酸化位点的鉴定

以玉米 (Zea mays L.) 根的高纯度液泡膜为材料进行的磷酸化反应表明,液泡膜蛋白的磷酸化可明显提高V型H -ATPase (V-ATPase) 的ATP水解活性和H 转运活性。进一步研究表明,纯化的液泡膜蛋白能被硫代磷酸化,用V-ATPase的A亚基抗体将一条约69 kD的条带鉴定为A亚基。为了测定V-ATPase的A亚基的磷酸化位点,从硫代磷酸化的凝胶中切下A亚基条带并用胰蛋白酶彻底消化。用RP-HPLC分离纯化酶解片断,收集纯化的硫代磷酸化肽段进行质谱分析所测定的分子量为573.83 Da。A亚基胰蛋白酶彻底消化后能产生61个肽段,只有F56肽段的分子量573.66 Da与573.83 Da最接近,而且F56肽段上只有第525位的丝氨酸可以被磷酸化。因此可以确定,玉米根V-AT-Pase A亚基的潜在磷酸化位点为Ser525。就我们所知,这是首次确定植物V-ATPase A亚基的磷酸化位点。     

玉米根V-ATPase的A亚基磷酸化位点的鉴定

以玉米(Zea mays L)根的高纯度液泡膜为材料进行的磷酸化反应表明,液泡膜蛋白的磷酸化可明显提高v型H -ATPase(V-ATPase)的ATP水解活性和H 转运活性.进一步研究表明,纯化的液泡膜蛋白能被硫代磷酸化,用V-ATPase的A亚基抗体将一条约69 kD的条带鉴定为A亚基.为了测定V-ATPase的A亚基的磷酸化位点,从硫代磷酸化的凝胶中切下A亚基条带并用胰蛋白酶彻底消化.用RP-HPLC分离纯化酶解片断,收集纯化的硫代磷酸化肽段进行质谱分析所测定的分子量为573.83 Da.A亚基胰蛋白酶彻底消化后能产生61个肽段,只有F56肽段的分子量573.66 Da与573.83 Da最接近,而且F56肽段上只有第525位的丝氨酸可以被磷酸化.因此可以确定,玉米根V-AT-Pase A亚基的潜在磷酸化位点为Ser525.就我们所知,这是首次确定植物V-ATPase A亚基的磷酸化位点.     

膜蛋白结构研究方法新进展

膜蛋白是一类结构独特的蛋白质,执行很多基本的和重要的细胞生物学功能。了解膜蛋白在生物膜上的基本构象,对研究膜蛋白的精细拓扑结构、功能具有重要意义。但是膜蛋白的疏水特性使其需要与生物膜共同形成稳定的自然构象,至今在蛋白质组学的研究中对膜蛋白知之甚少。了解分子结构是了解生物大分子功能的一个重要途径。因此,本文对近来膜分子结构研究领域的进展作一简要概述。晶体学方法、单颗粒方法和原子力显微镜为膜蛋白的研究提供了大量的细节数据。固相核磁共振技术提供了跨膜α螺旋结构的方向约束数据和精确的分子间距离约束数据。直接位点标记的旋转电子顺磁共振可以得到更长的距离约束数据,但是目前的标记策略仍然具有局限性。位点特异的红外二色性分析可使得在脂双层中定向分析跨膜α螺旋束成为可能。     

SDS-聚丙烯酰氨凝胶电泳与液质联用技术分离和鉴定小鼠巨噬细胞膜蛋白

用膜蛋白分离试剂盒提取巨噬细胞膜蛋白,然后用SDS-聚丙烯酰氨凝胶电泳进行分离。将每个泳道平均切成8份,合并两个泳道同样位置的胶条,分别进行胶内酶解。酶解得到的多肽经脱盐后进入毛细管反相柱进行反相分离,分离后的肽段直接进入电喷离子源质谱仪进行一级和二级质谱分析。质谱数据用SEQUEST软件对小鼠IPI蛋白数据库进行检索,得到一个含有1000多种蛋白的名单,其中包括458种经GOA注释的膜蛋白。对膜蛋白部分进一步分析发现,其中包括CD11b、TNF-a、F4/80、CD14、CD18、CD86、CD44、CD16、Toll样受体等已知表达在巨噬细胞表面的蛋白分子,还包括另外13种CD分子和18种Ras相关GTPase,除了这些已知蛋白之外,还鉴定出若干新蛋白分子,为进一步深入研究巨噬细胞生物学功能提供了目标分子。     

基于马尔科夫链的胰蛋白酶肽段蛋白酶切位点概率预测

在基于质谱技术的蛋白质鉴定过程中,数据库搜索是主要的方法。漏切位点和酶切规则决定了图谱候选肽段的范围,是数据库搜索算法的重要参数。对于常用的胰蛋白酶切来说,除了局部构象、三维结构、实验条件,以及其它偶然因素会影响赖氨酸K或者精氨酸R后的位点能否被酶切外,该位点附近的其它氨基酸也会影响蛋白水解酶的酶切效果。从质谱图谱中时常会鉴定出包含漏切位点的肽段,因此,预测蛋白质的酶切位点能够为数据库搜索算法提供更为可靠的模型,也能够为了解和分析蛋白质的酶切规律提供依据。本文提出了一种基于马尔科夫(Markov)链的预测方法,能够利用蛋白质的序列信息来预测候选酶切位点的酶切概率,在蛋白酶切过程中,预测肽段的覆盖率可以达到85%以上。     

嗜碱菌Alkalimonas amylolytica N10在不同pH条件下的膜蛋白差异表达研究

为了探讨嗜碱菌的嗜碱机制,对一株新型专性嗜碱菌（Alkalimonas amylolytica N10）在不同pH条件下的差异膜蛋白质组进行了初步的研究。在3种pH条件下（pH值分别为84、94和104）培养的该菌的膜蛋白,通过8%～20%的梯度SDSPAGE进行分离。经胶图图像和统计计算,7条电泳条带的相对染色强度随培养液的pH值变化而改变,其中仅有一条条带强度随pH值增高而增加。这些条带经胰蛋白酶胶内消化和高效液相色谱电喷雾离子阱串联质谱（LCMS/MS）分析,共鉴定出了12种蛋白质。其中4种膜蛋白已有报道直接或间接参与细胞pH稳态的保持,其他几种蛋白则是首次发现其表达水平与生活环境的pH变化可能相关。     

多维蛋白鉴别技术分析天蓝色链霉菌膜内侧蛋白质组

链霉菌是一类具有重要工业价值和复杂调控机制的微生物,天蓝色链霉菌是这个属的模式菌。已报道天蓝色链霉菌的蛋白组学的研究多采用二维聚丙烯酰胺凝胶电泳与基质辅助激光解吸电离飞行时间质谱相结合的方法,但由于膜蛋白疏水性较强,天然丰度较低,此法得到的膜蛋白很少。用蛋白酶K保护/高pH蛋白酶K法制备链霉菌膜内侧蛋白组样品,并用多维蛋白鉴别技术进行分析,得到154个可能的膜内侧蛋白（包括膜内在蛋白和膜外周蛋白）,其中含跨膜区的膜内在蛋白44个,含3个以上跨膜区的膜内在蛋白有23个。此外,还鉴定了一批膜内侧蛋白的亲水性肽段及其在膜上的拓扑位置。该结果有助于对天蓝色链霉菌的膜蛋白进行拓扑学分类和功能研究。     

N-糖肽的规模化质谱解析方法进展

蛋白质糖基化修饰的鉴定是蛋白质翻译后修饰分析中最具挑战性的任务之一,近几年尤其受到关注.快速发展的质谱技术为规模化的蛋白质糖基化修饰研究提供了有效的手段.与其他基于质谱技术的翻译后修饰鉴定相比,糖基化鉴定的难点在于糖链是大分子而且存在微观不均一性,另外糖链本身可以在串联质谱中碎裂且与肽段的碎裂规律不同,导致蛋白质组学的质谱解析方法和软件难以完整地鉴定肽段序列和糖链结构.完整N-糖肽的鉴定是糖基化分析的热点内容之一,针对N-糖肽的鉴定,近年来,人们开发了多种多样的质谱解析方法,其中包括用N-糖酰胺酶切除糖链后鉴定N-糖基化位点的方法、基于电子转运裂解的糖肽肽段鉴定、基于高能碰撞裂解与电子转运裂解联用或碰撞诱导裂解与三级谱联用的完整N-糖肽鉴定等等.本文对这些质谱解析方法进行了整理和综述,简要指出了目前完整糖肽鉴定软件存在的一些不足,展望了未来的发展方向.     

Parallel topology of genetically fused EmrE homodimers

EmrE is a small H+-coupled multidrug transporter in Escherichia coli. Claims have been made for an antiparallel topology of this homodimeric protein. However, our own biochemical studies performed with detergent-solubilized purified protein support a parallel topology of the protomers. We developed an alternative approach to constrain the relative topology of the protomers within the dimer so that their activity can be assayed also in vivo before biochemical handling. Tandem EmrE was built with two identical monomers genetically fused tail to head (C-terminus of the first to N-terminus of the second monomer) with hydrophilic linkers of varying length. All the constructs conferred resistance to ethidium by actively removing it from the cytoplasm. The purified proteins bound substrate and transported methyl viologen into proteoliposomes by a proton-dependent mechanism. A tandem where one of the essential glutamates was replaced with glutamine transported only monovalent substrates and displayed a modified stoichiometry. The results support a parallel topology of the protomers in the functional dimer. The implications regarding insertion and evolution of membrane proteins are discussed.     

红细胞膜带4.2蛋白的结构与功能

带4.2蛋白是一种重要的红细胞膜蛋白,与红细胞的形态、可变形性及携氧功能有至关重要的联系。它通过与带3蛋白(阴离子通道蛋白)、锚蛋白结合,稳定的连接在细胞膜的内表面,连接着膜骨架网架结构与细胞膜,是膜骨架与脂质双分子层连接的重要纽带。带4.2蛋白的缺失会引起球形或椭圆形红细胞增多症及不同程度的溶血性贫血,严重的情况需要摘除脾脏来进行治疗。近年来研究认为,带4.2蛋白在维持细胞膜骨架的完整性和稳定性方面扮演了重要角色。现对带4.2蛋白结构及功能的研究状况进行综述。     

The major outer membrane protein of Fusobacterium nucleatum (FomA) folds and inserts into lipid bilayers via parallel folding pathways

Membrane protein insertion and folding was studied for the major outer membrane protein of Fusobacterium nucleatum (FomA), which is a voltage-dependent general diffusion porin. The transmembrane domain of FomA forms a beta-barrel that is predicted to consist of 14 beta-strands. Here, unfolded FomA is shown to insert and fold spontaneously and quantitatively into phospholipid bilayers upon dilution of the denaturant urea, which was shown previously only for outer membrane protein A (OmpA) of Escherichia coli. Folding of FomA is demonstrated by circular dichroism and fluorescence spectroscopy, by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and by single-channel recordings. Refolded FomA had a single-channel conductance of 1.1 nS at 1 M KCl, in agreement with the conductance of FomA isolated from membranes in native form. In contrast to OmpA, which forms a smaller eight-stranded beta-barrel domain, folding kinetics of the larger FomA were slower and provided evidence for parallel folding pathways of FomA into lipid bilayers. Two pathways were observed independent of membrane thickness with two different lipid bilayers, which were either composed of dicapryl phosphatidylcholine or dioleoyl phosphatidylcholine. This is the first observation of parallel membrane insertion and folding pathways of a beta-barrel membrane protein from an unfolded state in urea into lipid bilayers. The kinetics of both folding pathways depended on the chain length of the lipid and on temperature with estimated activation energies of 19 kJ/mol (dicapryl phosphatidylcholine) and 70 kJ/mol (dioleoyl phosphatidylcholine) for the faster pathways.     

Mapping the Binding Site of the Inhibitor Tariquidar That Stabilizes the First Transmembrane Domain of P-glycoprotein

ABC (ATP-binding cassette) transporters are clinically important because drug pumps like P-glycoprotein (P-gp, ABCB1) confer multidrug resistance and mutant ABC proteins are responsible for many protein-folding diseases such as cystic fibrosis. Identification of the tariquidar-binding site has been the subject of intensive molecular modeling studies because it is the most potent inhibitor and corrector of P-gp. Tariquidar is a unique P-gp inhibitor because it locks the pump in a conformation that blocks drug efflux but activates ATPase activity. In silico docking studies have identified several potential tariquidar-binding sites. Here, we show through cross-linking studies that tariquidar most likely binds to sites within the transmembrane (TM) segments located in one wing or at the interface between the two wings (12 TM segments form 2 divergent wings). We then introduced arginine residues at all positions in the 12 TM segments (223 mutants) of P-gp. The rationale was that a charged residue in the drug-binding pocket would disrupt hydrophobic interaction with tariquidar and inhibit its ability to rescue processing mutants or stimulate ATPase activity. Arginines introduced at 30 positions significantly inhibited tariquidar rescue of a processing mutant and activation of ATPase activity. The results suggest that tariquidar binds to a site within the drug-binding pocket at the interface between the TM segments of both structural wings. Tariquidar differed from other drug substrates, however, as it stabilized the first TM domain. Stabilization of the first TM domain appears to be a key mechanism for high efficiency rescue of ABC processing mutants that cause disease.     

Cryo-EM structures reveal multiple stages of bacterial outer membrane protein folding

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The Transmission Interfaces Contribute Asymmetrically to the Assembly and Activity of Human P-glycoprotein

P-glycoprotein (P-gp; ABCB1) is an ABC drug pump that protects us from toxic compounds. It is clinically important because it confers multidrug resistance. The homologous halves of P-gp each contain a transmembrane (TM) domain (TMD) with 6 TM segments followed by a nucleotide-binding domain (NBD). The drug- and ATP-binding sites reside at the interface between the TMDs and NBDs, respectively. Each NBD is connected to the TMDs by a transmission interface involving a pair of intracellular loops (ICLs) that form ball-and-socket joints. P-gp is different from CFTR (ABCC7) in that deleting NBD2 causes misprocessing of only P-gp. Therefore, NBD2 might be critical for stabilizing ICLs 2 and 3 that form a tetrahelix bundle at the NBD2 interface. Here we report that the NBD1 and NBD2 transmission interfaces in P-gp are asymmetric. Point mutations to 25 of 60 ICL2/ICL3 residues at the NBD2 transmission interface severely reduced P-gp assembly while changes to the equivalent residues in ICL1/ICL4 at the NBD1 interface had little effect. The hydrophobic nature at the transmission interfaces was also different. Mutation of Phe-1086 or Tyr-1087 to arginine at the NBD2 socket blocked activity or assembly while the equivalent mutations at the NBD1 socket had only modest effects. The results suggest that the NBD transmission interfaces are asymmetric. In contrast to the ICL2/3-NBD2 interface, the ICL1/4-NBD1 transmission interface is more hydrophilic and insensitive to mutations. Therefore the ICL2/3-NBD2 transmission interface forms a precise hydrophobic connection that acts as a linchpin for assembly and trafficking of P-gp.     

Effect of crowding by Ficolls on OmpA and OmpT refolding and membrane insertion

Folding of outer membrane proteins (OMPs) has been studied extensively in vitro. However, most of these studies have been conducted in dilute buffer solution, which is different from the crowded environment in the cell periplasm, where the folding and membrane insertion of OMPs actually occur. Using OmpA and OmpT as model proteins and Ficoll 70 as the crowding agent, here we investigated the effect of the macromolecular crowding condition on OMP membrane insertion. We found that the presence of Ficoll 70 significantly slowed down the rate of membrane insertion of OmpA while had little effect on those of OmpT. To investigate if the soluble domain of OmpA slowed down membrane insertion in the presence of the crowding agent, we created a truncated OmpA construct that contains only the transmembrane domain (OmpA171). In the absence of crowding agent, OmpA171 refolded at a similar rate as OmpA, although with decreased efficiency. However, under the crowding condition, OmpA171 refolded significantly faster than OmpA. Our results suggest that the periplasmic domain slows down the rate, while improves the efficiency, of OmpA folding and membrane insertion under the crowding condition. Such an effect was not obvious when refolding was studied in buffer solution in the absence of crowding.     

Secondary and tertiary structure formation of the beta-barrel membrane protein OmpA is synchronized and depends on membrane thickness

The mechanism of membrane insertion and folding of a beta-barrel membrane protein has been studied using the outer membrane protein A (OmpA) as an example. OmpA forms an eight-stranded beta-barrel that functions as a structural protein and perhaps as an ion channel in the outer membrane of Escherichia coli. OmpA folds spontaneously from a urea-denatured state into lipid bilayers of small unilamellar vesicles. We have used fluorescence spectroscopy, circular dichroism spectroscopy, and gel electrophoresis to investigate basic mechanistic principles of structure formation in OmpA. Folding kinetics followed a second-order rate law and is strongly depended on the hydrophobic thickness of the lipid bilayer. When OmpA was refolded into model membranes of dilaurylphosphatidylcholine, fluorescence kinetics were characterized by a rate constant that was about fivefold higher than the rate constants of formation of secondary and tertiary structure, which were determined by circular dichroism spectroscopy and gel electrophoresis, respectively. The formation of beta-sheet secondary structure and closure of the beta-barrel of OmpA were correlated with the same rate constant and coupled to the insertion of the protein into the lipid bilayer. OmpA, and presumably other beta-barrel membrane proteins therefore do not follow a mechanism according to the two-stage model that has been proposed for the folding of alpha-helical bundle membrane proteins. These different folding mechanisms are likely a consequence of the very different intramolecular hydrogen bonding and hydrophobicity patterns in these two classes of membrane proteins.     

Using optimized evidence-theoretic K-nearest neighbor classifier and pseudo-amino acid composition to predict membrane protein types

Knowledge of membrane protein type often provides crucial hints toward determining the function of an uncharacterized membrane protein. With the avalanche of new protein sequences emerging during the post-genomic era, it is highly desirable to develop an automated method that can serve as a high throughput tool in identifying the types of newly found membrane proteins according to their primary sequences, so as to timely make the relevant annotations on them for the reference usage in both basic research and drug discovery. Based on the concept of pseudo-amino acid composition [K.C. Chou, Proteins: Struct. Funct. Genet. 43 (2001) 246-255; Erratum: Proteins: Struct. Funct. Genet. 44 (2001) 60] that has made it possible to incorporate a considerable amount of sequence-order effects by representing a protein sample in terms of a set of discrete numbers, a novel predictor, the so-called "optimized evidence-theoretic K-nearest neighbor" or "OET-KNN" classifier, was proposed. It was demonstrated via the self-consistency test, jackknife test, and independent dataset test that the new predictor, compared with many previous ones, yielded higher success rates in most cases. The new predictor can also be used to improve the prediction quality for, among many other protein attributes, structural class, subcellular localization, enzyme family class, and G-protein coupled receptor type. The OET-KNN classifier will be available as a web-server at http://www.pami.sjtu.edu.cn/kcchou.     

Consequences of the overexpression of a eukaryotic membrane protein, the human KDEL receptor, in Escherichia coli

Escherichia coli is the most widely used host for producing membrane proteins. Thus far, to study the consequences of membrane protein overexpression in E. coli, we have focussed on prokaryotic membrane proteins as overexpression targets. Their overexpression results in the saturation of the Sec translocon, which is a protein-conducting channel in the cytoplasmic membrane that mediates both protein translocation and insertion. Saturation of the Sec translocon leads to (i) protein misfolding/aggregation in the cytoplasm, (ii) impaired respiration, and (iii) activation of the Arc response, which leads to inefficient ATP production and the formation of acetate. The overexpression yields of eukaryotic membrane proteins in E. coli are usually much lower than those of prokaryotic ones. This may be due to differences between the consequences of the overexpression of prokaryotic and eukaryotic membrane proteins in E. coli. Therefore, we have now also studied in detail how the overexpression of a eukaryotic membrane protein, the human KDEL receptor, affects E. coli. Surprisingly, the consequences of the overexpression of a prokaryotic and a eukaryotic membrane protein are very similar. Strain engineering and likely also protein engineering can be used to remedy the saturation of the Sec translocon upon overexpression of both prokaryotic and eukaryotic membrane proteins in E. coli.