Ever since DNA microarrays were first applied to the quantitation of RNA levels, there has been considerable interest in generating a protein homolog that can be used to assay cellular protein expression. A recent paper describes the first microarray that can be used for such protein profiling. (+info)
Functional proteomics: large-scale analysis of protein kinase activity.
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Proteome-wide sampling of function can be used to shed light on complex biological systems. Protein microarrays have now been used to investigate the substrate specificities of essentially all the protein kinases encoded by the yeast genome. (+info)
Automated search of natively folded protein fragments for high-throughput structure determination in structural genomics.
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Structural genomic projects envision almost routine protein structure determinations, which are currently imaginable only for small proteins with molecular weights below 25,000 Da. For larger proteins, structural insight can be obtained by breaking them into small segments of amino acid sequences that can fold into native structures, even when isolated from the rest of the protein. Such segments are autonomously folding units (AFU) and have sizes suitable for fast structural analyses. Here, we propose to expand an intuitive procedure often employed for identifying biologically important domains to an automatic method for detecting putative folded protein fragments. The procedure is based on the recognition that large proteins can be regarded as a combination of independent domains conserved among diverse organisms. We thus have developed a program that reorganizes the output of BLAST searches and detects regions with a large number of similar sequences. To automate the detection process, it is reduced to a simple geometrical problem of recognizing rectangular shaped elevations in a graph that plots the number of similar sequences at each residue of a query sequence. We used our program to quantitatively corroborate the premise that segments with conserved sequences correspond to domains that fold into native structures. We applied our program to a test data set composed of 99 amino acid sequences containing 150 segments with structures listed in the Protein Data Bank, and thus known to fold into native structures. Overall, the fragments identified by our program have an almost 50% probability of forming a native structure, and comparable results are observed with sequences containing domain linkers classified in SCOP. Furthermore, we verified that our program identifies AFU in libraries from various organisms, and we found a significant number of AFU candidates for structural analysis, covering an estimated 5 to 20% of the genomic databases. Altogether, these results argue that methods based on sequence similarity can be useful for dissecting large proteins into small autonomously folding domains, and such methods may provide an efficient support to structural genomics projects. (+info)
Evidence of multiple regulatory functions for the PtsN (IIA(Ntr)) protein of Pseudomonas putida.
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The ptsN gene of Pseudomonas putida encodes IIA(Ntr), a protein of the phosphoenol pyruvate:sugar phosphotransferase (PTS) system which is required for the C source inhibition of the sigma(54)-dependent promoter Pu of the TOL (toluate degradation) plasmid pWW0. Using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, we have examined the effect of ptsN disruption on the general expression pattern of P. putida. To this end, cells were grown in the presence or absence of glucose, and a 1,117-spot subset of the P. putida proteome was used as a reference for comparisons. Among all gene products whose expression was lowered by this carbon source (247 spots [about 22%]), only 6 behaved as Pu (i.e., were depressed in the ptsN background). This evidenced only a minor role for IIA(Ntr) in the extensive inhibition of gene expression in P. putida caused by glucose. However, the same experiments revealed a large incidence of glucose-independent effects brought about by the ptsN mutation. As many as 108 spots (ca. 9% of the cell products analyzed) were influenced, positively or negatively, by the loss of IIA(Ntr). By matching this pattern with that of an rpoN::OmegaKm strain of P. putida, which lacks the sigma(54) protein, we judge that most proteins whose expression was affected by ptsN were unrelated to the alternative sigma factor. These data suggest a role of IIA(Ntr) as a general regulator, independent of the presence of repressive carbon sources and not limited to sigma(54)-dependent genes. (+info)
Proteome analysis of light-induced proteins in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803: identification of proteins separated by 2D-PAGE using N-terminal sequencing and MALDI-TOF MS.
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The cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 is an ideal model organism for the proteome study of light-induced gene expression because the whole genomic sequence has been determined. The soluble proteins extracted from light- and dark-cultured cells were separated by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Light-induced protein spots electroblotted on a polyvinyldiene difluoride membrane were analyzed by N-terminal Edman sequence determination and followed by CyanoBase. The tryptic digests of some proteins were also confirmed by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization/time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) and MS-Fit search. Interestingly, eight proteins were related to photosynthesis and respiration (RbcS/L, CbbA, Gap2, AtpB, CpcB, PsbO, and PsbU). Four proteins (SodB, DnaK, GroEL2, and Tig) were involved in cellular processes and the functions of another two proteins (rehydrin and membrane protein) were unknown. The proteome analysis by N-terminal Edman sequencing and MALDI-TOF enabled us to characterize one-shot protein profiles expressed under different physiological conditions. (+info)
Identification of novel genes differentially expressed in PMA-induced HL-60 cells using cDNA microarrays.
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Identification of normal growth and differentiation-inducing proteins and their interaction in normal development have made it possible to elucidate the molecular basis of normal development and the mechanisms uncoupling growth and differentiation during tumor development. The development of cancer and the experimental reversal of tumorigenicity are accompanied by complex changes in patterns of gene expression. cDNA microarrays provide a powerful tool for studying these phenomena. In the present study, a high-density microarray of human cDNA elements was used to search for differences in gene expression associated with differentiation of human promyelic leukemia HL-60 cells. Microarrays containing 3,063 human cDNAs were printed on glass slides with high-speed robotics. These DNA 'chips' were used to quantitatively monitor differential expression of the cognate human genes using a highly sensitive two-color hybridization assay. The identification of known and novel phorbol ester-regulated genes in hematopoietic progenitor cells demonstrates the sensitivity of the assay. (+info)
Similarity between condensed phase and gas phase chemistry: fragmentation of peptides containing oxidized cysteine residues and its implications for proteomics.
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Amino acid residues containing thioethers are easily oxidized during protein purification, derivatization, and/or digestion. For instance, oxidation of methionine residues in proteins during SDS-PAGE is commonly observed. Under low energy collision induced dissociation this gives rise to a second series of fragment ion of lower abundance that are shifted by -64 Da when compared to the oxidized methionine-containing fragments. We report here that alkylated cysteine residues can be found in their oxidized form too, indicating that the oxidation of thioethers can occur during and following protein digestion and not only during SDS-PAGE or reduction and alkylation. Collision induced dissociation experiments on the singly- and multiply-charged species reveals that these peptides preferentially undergo elimination reactions that forms a dehydroalanine from the oxidized, alkylated cysteine residue. This contrasts to the less abundant elimination reaction of peptides containing oxidized methionines which cannot form an alpha,beta-unsaturated compound, but parallels the condensed phased chemistry of sulfoxides. The masses of both precursor and product ions are shifted such that these peptides cannot be identified in database searches with current algorithms. Incorporation of this fragmentation pattern is important for the isotope-coded affinity tag approach since this method is based on peptides containing cysteine residues. (+info)
Acute-phase proteins before cerebral ischemia in stroke-prone rats: identification by proteomics.
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BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: A high degree of proteinuria has been reported in stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRSP). We studied the effect of salt loading on the detailed protein pattern of serum and urine in 3 rat strains: Wistar-Kyoto, spontaneously hypertensive rats, and SHRSP, an inbred animal model for a complex form of cerebrovascular disorder resembling the human disease. METHODS: Rats were given a permissive diet and received 1% NaCl in drinking water. The protein pattern in body fluids was assessed over time by 2-dimensional electrophoretic analysis. Brain alterations were monitored by MRI and histology. RESULTS: Several proteins were excreted in urine after weeks of treatment and in advance of stroke: transferrin, hemopexin, albumin, alpha(2)-HS-glycoprotein, kallikrein-binding protein, alpha(1)-antitrypsin, Gc-globulin, and transthyretin. Markers of an inflammatory response, including very high levels of thiostatin, were detected in the serum of SHRSP at least 4 weeks before a stroke occurred. CONCLUSIONS: In SHRSP subjected to salt loading, an atypical inflammatory condition and widespread alterations of vascular permeability developed before the appearance of anomalous features in the brain detected by MRI. Urinary concentrations of each of the excreted serum proteins correlated positively with time before stroke occurred. (+info)