Quantitative Photo-crosslinking Mass Spectrometry Revealing Protein Structure Response to Environmental Changes.

Protein structures respond to changes in their chemical and physical environment. However, studying such conformational changes is notoriously difficult, as many structural biology techniques are also affected by these parameters. Here, the use of photo-crosslinking, coupled with quantitative crosslinking mass spectrometry (QCLMS), offers an opportunity, since the reactivity of photo-crosslinkers is unaffected by changes in environmental parameters. In this study, we introduce a workflow combining photo-crosslinking using sulfosuccinimidyl 4,4'-azipentanoate (sulfo-SDA) with our recently developed data-independent acquisition (DIA)-QCLMS. This novel photo-DIA-QCLMS approach is then used to quantify pH-dependent conformational changes in human serum albumin (HSA) and cytochrome C by monitoring crosslink abundances as a function of pH. Both proteins show pH-dependent conformational changes resulting in acidic and alkaline transitions. 93% and 95% of unique residue pairs (URP) were quantifiable across triplicates for HSA and cytochrome C, respectively. Abundance changes of URPs and hence conformational changes of both proteins were visualized using hierarchical clustering. For HSA we distinguished the N-F and the N-B form from the native conformation. In addition, we observed for cytochrome C acidic and basic conformations. In conclusion, our photo-DIA-QCLMS approach distinguished pH-dependent conformers of both proteins.

Determination of amino acid neurotransmitters in human cerebrospinal fluid and saliva by capillary electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence detection.

A CE-LIF detection method has been developed to identify and quantitate six amino acid neurotransmitters including glutamic acid, aspartic acid, gamma-aminobutyric acid, glycine, taurine, and glutamine. N-hydroxysuccinimidyl fluorescein-O-acetate, a fluorescein-based dye, was employed for the derivatization of these neurotransmitters prior to CE-LIF analysis. Different parameters which influenced separation and derivatization were optimized in detail. Under optimum conditions, linearity was achieved within concentration ranges of up to three orders of magnitudes for those analytes with correlation coefficients from 0.9989 to 0.9998. The LODs ranged from 0.06 nM to 0.1 nM, and are thus superior or equivalent to those previously reported in the literature using CE-LIF detection. The proposed method has been successfully applied to the determination of amino acid neurotransmitters in biological samples such as human cerebrospinal fluid and saliva with satisfactory recoveries.

CEC separation of aromatic compounds and proteins on hexylamine-functionalized N-acryloxysuccinimide monoliths.

Reactive organic polymer monoliths were prepared in fused-silica capillaries by UV-initiated free radical polymerization of N-acryloxysuccinimide (NAS) as reactive monomer, ethylene dimethacrylate as crosslinker, azobisisobutyronitrile as initiator, and toluene as porogen. In a second synthetic step, chemical derivatization of the activated-ester moieties was performed in situ through alkylation reaction with alkylamines to afford monolithic stationary phases with potential reversed-phase properties. A correlation between the synthesis conditions--composition of the reactive solution--chemical characteristics of the reactive polymer monoliths--nitrogen/NAS content--and the reversed-phase separation properties of the functionalized monolithic columns--selectivity towards homologous series of akylbenzenes--was clearly established. This finding offers the possibility of adjusting the experimental conditions with respect to the target applications. The monolithic stationary phases with optimized chemical and porous structures were used for the CEC separation of alkylbenzenes, phenols, anilines, organic acids, amino acids, and proteins. The data indicate that depending on the nature of the analytes (charge, hydrophobic/hydrophilic balance, size) reversed-phase or mixed modes may account for the observed separation.

Myosin filament ATPase is enhanced by intramolecularly cross-linked actin.

Reaction of rabbit skeletal muscle F-actin with the lysine-directed photolabile cross-linker, N-5-azido-2-nitrobenzoyloxy succinimide was limited to Lysine-328 and Lysine-326, with Lysine-328 being labelled to a greater extent. Photolysis of the modified actin enhanced the actin-activated MgATPase activity of filamentous scallop myosin 3-4-fold more than unmodified actin, without affecting calcium sensitivity. Unphotolysed modified actin behaved as untreated actin, indicating that photolysis was essential for the effect. The actin-activated ATPase of filamentous rabbit myosin was similarly increased by photolysed N-5-azido-2-nitrobenzoyloxy succinimide-modified actin. After photolysis in either the monomeric (G-) or filamentous (F-) form, N-5-azido-2-nitrobenzoyloxy succinimide-modified actin moved as a monomeric (42 kDa) species on SDS gels, and depolymerized and polymerized readily, demonstrating that any cross-linking event produced by photolysis must be intramolecular. In contrast to the substantial increase in actin-activated ATPase activity observed when photolysed ANB-NOS-modified actin was added to filamentous myosin, the enhancement was not observed with the soluble HMM and S-1 fragments of myosin. Photolysed modified actin showed only poor movement on a rabbit HMM-coated surface in vitro motility assays. These results can be explained if the internally cross-linked G-actin subunits which comprise only a fraction of the actin population, either weaken the actin-actin contacts or have an increased affinity for myosin.