SARS-CoV2, the COVID-19 Pandemic and Community Perceptions.

The purpose of this study was to describe knowledge and beliefs about SARS-CoV2 and COVID-19 and explore the gaps between current media coverage of health risks and what the general public knows about the virus and its outcome. A 37-question survey was developed and administered to a community collaborative group in a Midwestern state in the United States. Fifty-three participants completed the survey. When asked where participants found their information, a majority reported the internet (33.9%, n = 18/53) and radio and/or tv (28.3%, n = 15/53). Most participants showed a basic level of COVID-19 knowledge, but few could identify the 3 most frequent symptoms of COVID-19 (7.5%, n = 4/53). The results from this study highlight the continued need for increased public health communication. Educational efforts should focus on social media and internet outlets to address COVID-19 misinformation, strategies to address vaccine hesitancy, and the associated communication gap to help address related health disparities.

Assessment of COVID-19 Knowledge Among University Students: Implications for Future Risk Communication Strategies.

The purpose of this study was to describe population knowledge and beliefs about COVID-19 and current social media coverage to address a gap in what is known about risk communication during health crises. A survey with 27 questions was developed. Twenty-three percent (N = 1,136) of respondents started the survey. Less than half of the students reported a high health literacy level (43%, n = 365/855). When asked where students have heard about COVID-19, the majority reported the Internet and social media. Students reported a basic level of COVID-19 knowledge, but few students (18%, n = 173/966) correctly identified all three signs and/or symptoms of COVID-19. Results highlight the need for an increased public health presence on social media and the urgent need to remain diligent in educating community members about COVID-19 myths.

SIRT3 deacetylates ATP synthase F1 complex proteins in response to nutrient- and exercise-induced stress.

AIMS: Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) synthase uses chemiosmotic energy across the inner mitochondrial membrane to convert adenosine diphosphate and orthophosphate into ATP, whereas genetic deletion of Sirt3 decreases mitochondrial ATP levels. Here, we investigate the mechanistic connection between SIRT3 and energy homeostasis. RESULTS: By using both in vitro and in vivo experiments, we demonstrate that ATP synthase F1 proteins alpha, beta, gamma, and Oligomycin sensitivity-conferring protein (OSCP) contain SIRT3-specific reversible acetyl-lysines that are evolutionarily conserved and bind to SIRT3. OSCP was further investigated and lysine 139 is a nutrient-sensitive SIRT3-dependent deacetylation target. Site directed mutants demonstrate that OSCP(K139) directs, at least in part, mitochondrial ATP production and mice lacking Sirt3 exhibit decreased ATP muscle levels, increased ATP synthase protein acetylation, and an exercise-induced stress-deficient phenotype. INNOVATION: This work connects the aging and nutrient response, via SIRT3 direction of the mitochondrial acetylome, to the regulation of mitochondrial energy homeostasis under nutrient-stress conditions by deacetylating ATP synthase proteins. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that acetylome signaling contributes to mitochondrial energy homeostasis by SIRT3-mediated deacetylation of ATP synthase proteins.

IDPQuantify: combining precursor intensity with spectral counts for protein and peptide quantification.

Differentiating and quantifying protein differences in complex samples produces significant challenges in sensitivity and specificity. Label-free quantification can draw from two different information sources: precursor intensities and spectral counts. Intensities are accurate for calculating protein relative abundance, but values are often missing due to peptides that are identified sporadically. Spectral counting can reliably reproduce difference lists, but differentiating peptides or quantifying all but the most concentrated protein changes is usually beyond its abilities. Here we developed new software, IDPQuantify, to align multiple replicates using principal component analysis, extract accurate precursor intensities from MS data, and combine intensities with spectral counts for significant gains in differentiation and quantification. We have applied IDPQuantify to three comparative proteomic data sets featuring gold standard protein differences spiked in complicated backgrounds. The software is able to associate peptides with peaks that are otherwise left unidentified to increase the efficiency of protein quantification, especially for low-abundance proteins. By combing intensities with spectral counts from IDPicker, it gains an average of 30% more true positive differences among top differential proteins. IDPQuantify quantifies protein relative abundance accurately in these test data sets to produce good correlations between known and measured concentrations.

Proteomic analysis of exosomes from mutant KRAS colon cancer cells identifies intercellular transfer of mutant KRAS.

Activating mutations in KRAS occur in 30% to 40% of colorectal cancers. How mutant KRAS alters cancer cell behavior has been studied intensively, but non-cell autonomous effects of mutant KRAS are less understood. We recently reported that exosomes isolated from mutant KRAS-expressing colon cancer cells enhanced the invasiveness of recipient cells relative to exosomes purified from wild-type KRAS-expressing cells, leading us to hypothesize mutant KRAS might affect neighboring and distant cells by regulating exosome composition and behavior. Herein, we show the results of a comprehensive proteomic analysis of exosomes from parental DLD-1 cells that contain both wild-type and G13D mutant KRAS alleles and isogenically matched derivative cell lines, DKO-1 (mutant KRAS allele only) and DKs-8 (wild-type KRAS allele only). Mutant KRAS status dramatically affects the composition of the exosome proteome. Exosomes from mutant KRAS cells contain many tumor-promoting proteins, including KRAS, EGFR, SRC family kinases, and integrins. DKs-8 cells internalize DKO-1 exosomes, and, notably, DKO-1 exosomes transfer mutant KRAS to DKs-8 cells, leading to enhanced three-dimensional growth of these wild-type KRAS-expressing non-transformed cells. These results have important implications for non-cell autonomous effects of mutant KRAS, such as field effect and tumor progression.

Proteomic profiling of paraffin-embedded samples identifies metaplasia-specific and early-stage gastric cancer biomarkers.

Early diagnosis and curative resection are the predominant factors associated with increased survival in patients with gastric cancer. However, most gastric cancer cases are still diagnosed at later stages. Since most pathologic specimens are archived as FFPE samples, the ability to use them to generate expression profiles can greatly improve cancer biomarker discovery. We sought to uncover new biomarkers for stomach preneoplastic metaplasias and neoplastic lesions by generating proteome profiles using FFPE samples. We combined peptide isoelectric focusing and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry analysis to generate proteomic profiles from FFPE samples of intestinal-type gastric cancer, metaplasia, and normal mucosa. The expression patterns of selected proteins were analyzed by immunostaining first in single tissue sections from normal stomach, metaplasia, and gastric cancer and later in larger tissue array cohorts. We detected 60 proteins up-regulated and 87 proteins down-regulated during the progression from normal mucosa to metaplasia to gastric cancer. Two of the up-regulated proteins, LTF and DMBT1, were validated as specific markers for spasmolytic polypeptide-expressing metaplasia and intestinal metaplasia, respectively. In cancers, significantly lower levels of DMBT1 or LTF correlated with more advanced disease and worse prognosis. Thus, proteomic profiling using FFPE samples has led to the identification of two novel markers for stomach metaplasias and gastric cancer prognosis.

Label-free quantitation of protein modifications by pseudo selected reaction monitoring with internal reference peptides.

Liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) based methods provide powerful tools for the quantitative analysis of modified proteins. We have developed a label-free approach using internal reference peptides (IRP) from the target protein for signal normalization without the need for isotope labeling. Ion-trap mass spectrometry and pseudo-selected reaction monitoring (pSRM) were used to acquire full MS/MS and MS(3) spectra from target peptides. Skyline, a widely used software for SRM experiments, was used for chromatographic ion extraction. Phosphopeptides spiked into a BSA background yielded concentration response curves with high correlation coefficients (typically >0.9) and low coefficients of variation (≤15%) over a 200-fold concentration range. Stable isotope dilution (SID) and IRP methods were compared for quantitation of six site-specific phosphorylations in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in epidermal growth factor-stimulated A431 cells with or without the addition of EGFR inhibitors cetuximab and gefitinib. Equivalent responses were observed with both IRP and SID methods, although analyses using the IRP method typically had higher median CVs (22-31%) than SID (10-20%). Analyses using both methods were consistent with immunoblot using site-selective antibodies. The ease of implementation and the suitability for targeted quantitative comparisons make this method suitable for broad application in protein biochemistry.

Precision of multiple reaction monitoring mass spectrometry analysis of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue.

We compared the reproducibility of multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mass spectrometry-based peptide quantitation in tryptic digests from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) and frozen clear cell renal cell carcinoma tissues. The analyses targeted a candidate set of 114 peptides previously identified in shotgun proteomic analyses, of which 104 were detectable in FFPE and frozen tissue. Although signal intensities for MRM of peptides from FFPE tissue were on average 66% of those in frozen tissue, median coefficients of variation (CV) for measurements in FFPE and frozen tissues were nearly identical (18-20%). Measurements of lysine C-terminal peptides and arginine C-terminal peptides from FFPE tissue were similarly reproducible (19.5% and 18.3% median CV, respectively). We further evaluated the precision of MRM-based quantitation by analysis of peptides from the Her2 receptor in FFPE and frozen tissues from a Her2 overexpressing mouse xenograft model of breast cancer and in human FFPE breast cancer specimens. We obtained equivalent MRM measurements of HER2 receptor levels in FFPE and frozen mouse xenografts derived from HER2-overexpressing BT474 cells and HER2-negative Sum159 cells. MRM analyses of 5 HER2-positive and 5 HER-negative human FFPE breast tumors confirmed the results of immunohistochemical analyses, thus demonstrating the feasibility of HER2 protein quantification in FFPE tissue specimens. The data demonstrate that MRM analyses can be performed with equal precision on FFPE and frozen tissues and that lysine-containing peptides can be selected for quantitative comparisons, despite the greater impact of formalin fixation on lysine residues. The data further illustrate the feasibility of applying MRM to quantify clinically important tissue biomarkers in FFPE specimens.

A new LC-MS/MS method for the quantification of endogenous and vinyl chloride-induced 7-(2-Oxoethyl)guanine in sprague-dawley rats.

Vinyl chloride (VC) is an industrial chemical that is known to be carcinogenic to animals and humans. VC primarily induces hepatic angiosarcomas following high exposures (≥50 ppm). VC is also found in Superfund sites at ppb concentrations as a result of microbial metabolism of trichloroethylene and perchloroethylene. Here, we report a new sensitive LC-MS/MS method to analyze the major DNA adduct formed by VC, 7-(2-oxoethylguanine) (7-OEG). We used this method to analyze tissue DNA from both adult and weanling rats exposed to 1100 ppm [(13)C(2)]-VC for 5 days. After neutral thermal hydrolysis, 7-OEG was derivatized with O-t-butyl hydroxylamine to an oxime adduct, followed by LC-MS/MS analysis. The limit of detection was 1 fmol, and the limit of quantitation was 1.5 fmol on the column. The use of stable isotope VC allowed us to demonstrate for the first time that endogenous 7-OEG was present in tissue DNA. We hypothesized that endogenous 7-OEG was formed from lipid peroxidation and demonstrated the formation of [(13)C(2)]-7-OEG from the reaction of calf thymus DNA with [(13)C(18)]-ethyl linoleate (EtLa) under peroxidizing conditions. The concentrations of endogenous 7-OEG in liver, lung, kidney, spleen, testis, and brain DNA from adult and weanling rats typically ranged from 1.0 to 10.0 adducts per 10(6) guanine. The exogenous 7-OEG in liver DNA from adult rats exposed to 1100 ppm [(13)C(2)]-VC for 5 days was 104.0 ± 23.0 adducts per 10(6) guanine (n = 4), while concentrations in other tissues ranged from 1.0 to 39.0 adducts per 10(6) guanine (n = 4). Although endogenous concentrations of 7-OEG in tissues in weanling rats were similar to those of adult rats, exogenous [(13)C(2)]-7-OEG concentrations were higher in weanlings, averaging 300 adducts per 10(6) guanine in liver. Studies on the persistence of [(13)C(2)]-7-OEG in adult rats sacrificed 2, 4, and 8 weeks postexposure to [(13)C(2)]-VC demonstrated a half-life of 7-OEG of 4 days in both liver and lung.

Pepitome: evaluating improved spectral library search for identification complementarity and quality assessment.

Spectral libraries have emerged as a viable alternative to protein sequence databases for peptide identification. These libraries contain previously detected peptide sequences and their corresponding tandem mass spectra (MS/MS). Search engines can then identify peptides by comparing experimental MS/MS scans to those in the library. Many of these algorithms employ the dot product score for measuring the quality of a spectrum-spectrum match (SSM). This scoring system does not offer a clear statistical interpretation and ignores fragment ion m/z discrepancies in the scoring. We developed a new spectral library search engine, Pepitome, which employs statistical systems for scoring SSMs. Pepitome outperformed the leading library search tool, SpectraST, when analyzing data sets acquired on three different mass spectrometry platforms. We characterized the reliability of spectral library searches by confirming shotgun proteomics identifications through RNA-Seq data. Applying spectral library and database searches on the same sample revealed their complementary nature. Pepitome identifications enabled the automation of quality analysis and quality control (QA/QC) for shotgun proteomics data acquisition pipelines.

Supporting tool suite for production proteomics.

SUMMARY: The large amount of data produced by proteomics experiments requires effective bioinformatics tools for the integration of data management and data analysis. Here we introduce a suite of tools developed at Vanderbilt University to support production proteomics. We present the Backup Utility Service tool for automated instrument file backup and the ScanSifter tool for data conversion. We also describe a queuing system to coordinate identification pipelines and the File Collector tool for batch copying analytical results. These tools are individually useful but collectively reinforce each other. They are particularly valuable for proteomics core facilities or research institutions that need to manage multiple mass spectrometers. With minor changes, they could support other types of biomolecular resource facilities.

Elucidating the mechanism of regulation of transforming growth factor ß Type II receptor expression in human lung cancer cell lines.

Lung carcinogenesis in humans involves an accumulation of genetic and epigenetic changes that lead to alterations in normal lung epithelium, to in situ carcinoma, and finally to invasive and metastatic cancers. The loss of transforming growth factor ß (TGF-ß)-induced tumor suppressor function in tumors plays a pivotal role in this process, and our previous studies have shown that resistance to TGF-ß in lung cancers occurs mostly through the loss of TGF-ß type II receptor expression (TßRII). However, little is known about the mechanism of down-regulation of TßRII and how histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors (HDIs) can restore TGF-ß-induced tumor suppressor function. Here we show that HDIs restore TßRII expression and that DNA hypermethylation has no effect on TßRII promoter activity in lung cancer cell lines. TGF-ß-induced tumor suppressor function is restored by HDIs in lung cancer cell lines that lack TßRII expression. Activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase/extracellular signal-regulated kinase pathway by either activated Ras or epidermal growth factor signaling is involved in the down-regulation of TßRII through histone deacetylation. We have immunoprecipitated the protein complexes by biotinylated oligonucleotides corresponding to the HDI-responsive element in the TßRII promoter (-127/-75) and identified the proteins/factors using proteomics studies. The transcriptional repressor Meis1/2 is involved in repressing the TßRII promoter activity, possibly through its recruitment by Sp1 and NF-YA to the promoter. These results suggest a mechanism for the downregulation of TßRII in lung cancer and that TGF-ß tumor suppressor functions may be restored by HDIs in lung cancer patients with the loss of TßRII expression.

IQGAP1 is a novel CXCR2-interacting protein and essential component of the "chemosynapse".

BACKGROUND: Chemotaxis is essential for a number of physiological processes including leukocyte recruitment. Chemokines initiate intracellular signaling pathways necessary for chemotaxis through binding seven transmembrane G protein-couple receptors. Little is known about the proteins that interact with the intracellular domains of chemokine receptors to initiate cellular signaling upon ligand binding. CXCR2 is a major chemokine receptor expressed on several cell types, including endothelial cells and neutrophils. We hypothesize that multiple proteins interact with the intracellular domains of CXCR2 upon ligand stimulation and these interactions comprise a "chemosynapse", and play important roles in transducing CXCR2 mediated signaling processes. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In an effort to define the complex of proteins that assemble upon CXCR2 activation to relay signals from activated chemokine receptors, a proteomics approach was employed to identify proteins that co-associate with CXCR2 with or without ligand stimulation. The components of the CXCR2 "chemosynapse" are involved in processes ranging from intracellular trafficking to cytoskeletal modification. IQ motif containing GTPase activating protein 1 (IQGAP1) was among the novel proteins identified to interact directly with CXCR2. Herein, we demonstrate that CXCR2 co-localizes with IQGAP1 at the leading edge of polarized human neutrophils and CXCR2 expressing differentiated HL-60 cells. Moreover, amino acids 1-160 of IQGAP1 directly interact with the carboxyl-terminal domain of CXCR2 and stimulation with CXCL8 enhances IQGAP1 association with Cdc42. CONCLUSIONS: Our studies indicate that IQGAP1 is a novel essential component of the CXCR2 "chemosynapse".

Rab11-FIP2 influences multiple components of the endosomal system in polarized MDCK cells.

The Rab11 Family Interacting Proteins (Rab11-FIPs) are hypothesized to regulate sequential steps in the apical recycling and transcytotic pathways of polarized epithelial cells. Previous studies have suggested that Rab11-FIP proteins assemble into multi-protein complexes regulating plasma membrane recycling. Rab11-FIP2 interacts with both myosin Vb and Rab11. Recent investigations have noted that that Rab11-FIP2 mutants [Rab11-FIP2(129-512), also designated Rab11-FIP2(ΔC2) and Rab11-FIP2(S229A, R413G), also designated Rab11-FIP2(SARG)], are potent inhibitors of transcytosis in polarized MDCK cells. Interestingly, Rab11-FIP2(ΔC2), but not Rab11-FIP2(SARG), also altered the morphology of the EEA-1 positive early endosomal compartment. These findings suggested that Rab11-FIP2 mutants could differentiate different points along the recycling pathway. We therefore sought to investigate whether Rab11-FIP2 is a general regulator of the early endosomal system. Both Rab11-FIP2 mutants altered the localization and co-localized with dynein heavy chain. In contrast, both clathrin heavy chain and AP-1 accumulated with membranes containing Rab11-FIP2(SARG), but not with Rab11-FIP2(ΔC2). Expression of Rab11-FIP2(ΔC2), but not Rab11-FIP2(SARG), caused clustering of early endosomal markers Rab5b, Epsin 4 and IQGAP1, around a collapsed Rab11-FIP2 containing membranous cisternum. Interestingly, neither Rab11-FIP2 mutant had any effect on the distribution of Rab5a, a classical early endosome marker. The results support the view that Rab11-FIP2 may influence microtubule-dependent centripetal movement of subsets of early endosomes as well as processing through the common and recycling endosomal systems.

ScanRanker: Quality assessment of tandem mass spectra via sequence tagging.

In shotgun proteomics, protein identification by tandem mass spectrometry relies on bioinformatics tools. Despite recent improvements in identification algorithms, a significant number of high quality spectra remain unidentified for various reasons. Here we present ScanRanker, an open-source tool that evaluates the quality of tandem mass spectra via sequence tagging with reliable performance in data from different instruments. The superior performance of ScanRanker enables it not only to find unassigned high quality spectra that evade identification through database search but also to select spectra for de novo sequencing and cross-linking analysis. In addition, we demonstrate that the distribution of ScanRanker scores predicts the richness of identifiable spectra among multiple LC-MS/MS runs in an experiment, and ScanRanker scores assist the process of peptide assignment validation to increase confident spectrum identifications. The source code and executable versions of ScanRanker are available from http://fenchurch.mc.vanderbilt.edu.

Methods for peptide and protein quantitation by liquid chromatography-multiple reaction monitoring mass spectrometry.

Liquid chromatography-multiple reaction monitoring mass spectrometry of peptides using stable isotope dilution (SID) provides a powerful tool for targeted protein quantitation. However, the high cost of labeled peptide standards for SID poses an obstacle to multiple reaction monitoring studies. We compared SID to a labeled reference peptide (LRP) method, which uses a single labeled peptide as a reference standard for all measured peptides, and a label-free (LF) approach, in which quantitation is based on analysis of un-normalized peak areas for detected MRM transitions. We analyzed peptides from the Escherichia coli proteins alkaline phosphatase and ß-galactosidase spiked into lysates from human colon adenocarcinoma RKO cells. We also analyzed liquid chromatography-multiple reaction monitoring mass spectrometry data from a recently published interlaboratory study by the National Cancer Institute Clinical Proteomic Technology Assessment for Cancer network (Addona et al. (2009) Nat. Biotechnol. 27: 633-641), in which unlabeled and isotopically labeled synthetic peptides or their corresponding proteins were spiked into human plasma. SID displayed the highest correlation coefficients and lowest coefficient of variation in regression analyses of both peptide and protein spike studies. In protein spike experiments, median coefficient of variation values were about 10% for SID and 20-30% for LRP and LF methods. Power calculations indicated that differences in measurement error between the methods have much less impact on measured protein expression differences than biological variation. All three methods detected significant (p < 0.05) differential expression of three endogenous proteins in a test set of 10 pairs of human lung tumor and control tissues. Further, the LRP and LF methods both detected significant differences (p < 0.05) in levels of seven biomarker candidates between tumors and controls in the same set of lung tissue samples. The data indicate that the LRP and LF methods provide cost-effective alternatives to SID for many quantitative liquid chromatography-multiple reaction monitoring mass spectrometry applications.

Geometric restraint drives on- and off-pathway catalysis by the Escherichia coli menaquinol:fumarate reductase.

Complex II superfamily members catalyze the kinetically difficult interconversion of succinate and fumarate. Due to the relative simplicity of complex II substrates and their similarity to other biologically abundant small molecules, substrate specificity presents a challenge in this system. In order to identify determinants for on-pathway catalysis, off-pathway catalysis, and enzyme inhibition, crystal structures of Escherichia coli menaquinol:fumarate reductase (QFR), a complex II superfamily member, were determined bound to the substrate, fumarate, and the inhibitors oxaloacetate, glutarate, and 3-nitropropionate. Optical difference spectroscopy and computational modeling support a model where QFR twists the dicarboxylate, activating it for catalysis. Orientation of the C2-C3 double bond of activated fumarate parallel to the C(4a)-N5 bond of FAD allows orbital overlap between the substrate and the cofactor, priming the substrate for nucleophilic attack. Off-pathway catalysis, such as the conversion of malate to oxaloacetate or the activation of the toxin 3-nitropropionate may occur when inhibitors bind with a similarly activated bond in the same position. Conversely, inhibitors that do not orient an activatable bond in this manner, such as glutarate and citrate, are excluded from catalysis and act as inhibitors of substrate binding. These results support a model where electronic interactions via geometric constraint and orbital steering underlie catalysis by QFR.

TagRecon: high-throughput mutation identification through sequence tagging.

Shotgun proteomics produces collections of tandem mass spectra that contain all the data needed to identify mutated peptides from clinical samples. Identifying these sequence variations, however, has not been feasible with conventional database search strategies, which require exact matches between observed and expected sequences. Searching for mutations as mass shifts on specified residues through database search can incur significant performance penalties and generate substantial false positive rates. Here we describe TagRecon, an algorithm that leverages inferred sequence tags to identify unanticipated mutations in clinical proteomic data sets. TagRecon identifies unmodified peptides as sensitively as the related MyriMatch database search engine. In both LTQ and Orbitrap data sets, TagRecon outperformed state of the art software in recognizing sequence mismatches from data sets with known variants. We developed guidelines for filtering putative mutations from clinical samples, and we applied them in an analysis of cancer cell lines and an examination of colon tissue. Mutations were found in up to 6% of identified peptides, and only a small fraction corresponded to dbSNP entries. The RKO cell line, which is DNA mismatch repair deficient, yielded more mutant peptides than the mismatch repair proficient SW480 line. Analysis of colon cancer tumor and adjacent tissue revealed hydroxyproline modifications associated with extracellular matrix degradation. These results demonstrate the value of using sequence tagging algorithms to fully interrogate clinical proteomic data sets.

Identification and validation of novel spinophilin-associated proteins in rodent striatum using an enhanced ex vivo shotgun proteomics approach.

Spinophilin regulates excitatory postsynaptic function and morphology during development by virtue of its interactions with filamentous actin, protein phosphatase 1, and a plethora of additional signaling proteins. To provide insight into the roles of spinophilin in mature brain, we characterized the spinophilin interactome in subcellular fractions solubilized from adult rodent striatum by using a shotgun proteomics approach to identify proteins in spinophilin immune complexes. Initial analyses of samples generated using a mouse spinophilin antibody detected 23 proteins that were not present in an IgG control sample; however, 12 of these proteins were detected in complexes isolated from spinophilin knock-out tissue. A second screen using two different spinophilin antibodies and either knock-out or IgG controls identified a total of 125 proteins. The probability of each protein being specifically associated with spinophilin in each sample was calculated, and proteins were ranked according to a chi(2) analysis of the probabilities from analyses of multiple samples. Spinophilin and the known associated proteins neurabin and multiple isoforms of protein phosphatase 1 were specifically detected. Multiple, novel, spinophilin-associated proteins (myosin Va, calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II, neurofilament light polypeptide, postsynaptic density 95, alpha-actinin, and densin) were then shown to interact with GST fusion proteins containing fragments of spinophilin. Additional biochemical and transfected cell imaging studies showed that alpha-actinin and densin directly interact with residues 151-300 and 446-817, respectively, of spinophilin. Taken together, we have developed a multi-antibody, shotgun proteomics approach to characterize protein interactomes in native tissues, delineating the importance of knock-out tissue controls and providing novel insights into the nature and function of the spinophilin interactome in mature striatum.

Repeatability and reproducibility in proteomic identifications by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

The complexity of proteomic instrumentation for LC-MS/MS introduces many possible sources of variability. Data-dependent sampling of peptides constitutes a stochastic element at the heart of discovery proteomics. Although this variation impacts the identification of peptides, proteomic identifications are far from completely random. In this study, we analyzed interlaboratory data sets from the NCI Clinical Proteomic Technology Assessment for Cancer to examine repeatability and reproducibility in peptide and protein identifications. Included data spanned 144 LC-MS/MS experiments on four Thermo LTQ and four Orbitrap instruments. Samples included yeast lysate, the NCI-20 defined dynamic range protein mix, and the Sigma UPS 1 defined equimolar protein mix. Some of our findings reinforced conventional wisdom, such as repeatability and reproducibility being higher for proteins than for peptides. Most lessons from the data, however, were more subtle. Orbitraps proved capable of higher repeatability and reproducibility, but aberrant performance occasionally erased these gains. Even the simplest protein digestions yielded more peptide ions than LC-MS/MS could identify during a single experiment. We observed that peptide lists from pairs of technical replicates overlapped by 35-60%, giving a range for peptide-level repeatability in these experiments. Sample complexity did not appear to affect peptide identification repeatability, even as numbers of identified spectra changed by an order of magnitude. Statistical analysis of protein spectral counts revealed greater stability across technical replicates for Orbitraps, making them superior to LTQ instruments for biomarker candidate discovery. The most repeatable peptides were those corresponding to conventional tryptic cleavage sites, those that produced intense MS signals, and those that resulted from proteins generating many distinct peptides. Reproducibility among different instruments of the same type lagged behind repeatability of technical replicates on a single instrument by several percent. These findings reinforce the importance of evaluating repeatability as a fundamental characteristic of analytical technologies.