Opportunistic sampling of wild native and invasive birds reveals a rich diversity of adenoviruses in Australia.

Little is known about the diversity of adenoviruses in wild birds and how they have evolved and are maintained in complex ecosystems. In this study, 409 samples were collected from woodland birds caught for banding (droppings), birds submitted to a wildlife hospital (droppings and tissues), silver gulls (droppings or tissues), and feral pigeons (Columbia livia; oral, cloacal swabs, or tissues) from the Greater Sydney area in NSW, Australia. Additional samples were from native pigeons and doves (swabs) presented to the Healesville Sanctuary, VIC, Australia. Samples were screened for adenovirus DNA using degenerate primers and polymerase chain reaction. Adenovirus sequences were detected in eighty-three samples representing thirty-five novel amino acid sequences. Fourteen novel sequences were atadenoviruses, seven were aviadenoviruses, twelve were siadenoviruses, and one was a mastadenovirus. Sequences from passerine birds were predominately found to form a single lineage within the atadenoviruses, a second lineage in the siadenoviruses, and a third smaller aviadenovirus lineage. These viruses appeared to have co-evolved with a diverse group of woodland birds that share similar habitat. Evidence for host/virus co-evolution in some viruses and a wide host range in others was observed. A high prevalence of adenovirus infection was found in rainbow lorikeets (Trichoglossus haematodus), galahs (Eolophus roseicapilla), and sulphur-crested cockatoos (Cacatua galerita). Sequences were either identical to or mapped to already established lineages in the Aviadenovirus, Siadenovirus, and Atadenovirus genera, suggesting a possible origin of the psittacine adenoviruses in ancestral Australian psittacine birds. The sequences of passerine and psittacine origin provided insight into diversity and structure of the Atadenovirus genus and demonstrated for the first-time viruses of passerine origin in the Aviadenovirus genus. Four unrelated adenovirus sequences were found in silver gull samples (Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae), including one of pigeon origin, suggesting environmental virus exposure. Three pigeon adenovirus types were detected in feral pigeons and infection prevalence was high. Evidence for host switching between invasive species and native species and native species and invasive species was documented. A variant of a murine adenovirus was detected in kidney tissue from two bird species suggesting mouse to bird transmission.

S-Trap Eliminates Cell Culture Media Polymeric Surfactants for Effective Proteomic Analysis of Mammalian Cell Bioreactor Supernatants.

Proteomic analysis of bioreactor supernatants can inform on cellular metabolic status, viability, and productivity, as well as product quality, which can in turn help optimize bioreactor operation. Incubating mammalian cells in bioreactors requires the addition of polymeric surfactants such as Pluronic F68, which reduce the sheer stress caused by agitation. However, these surfactants are incompatible with mass spectrometry proteomics and must be eliminated during sample preparation. Here, we compared four different sample preparation methods to eliminate polymeric surfactants from filtered bioreactor supernatant samples: organic solvent precipitation; filter-assisted sample preparation (FASP); S-Trap; and single-pot, solid-phase, sample preparation (SP3). We found that SP3 and S-Trap substantially reduced or eliminated the polymer(s), but S-Trap provided the most robust cleanup and highest quality data. Additionally, we observed that SP3 sample preparation of our samples and in other published data sets was associated with partial alkylation of cysteines, which could impact the confidence and robustness of protein identification and quantification. Finally, we observed that several commercial mammalian cell culture media and media supplements also contained polymers with similar mass spectrometry profiles, and we suggest that proteomic analyses in these media will also benefit from the use of S-Trap sample preparation.

Relative and absolute quantitative expression profiling of cytochromes P450 using isotope-coded affinity tags.

The development of a novel method for absolute quantification of proteins based on isotope-coded affinity tagging using ICAT reagents is described. The method exploits synthetic peptide standards to determine protein content at the femtomole level in biological samples. The approach is generally applicable to any subset of proteins, but is particularly appropriate for quantitative analysis of multiple, closely related isoforms, and for hydrophobic proteins that are poorly represented in 2-D gels. Relative and absolute quantification techniques are applied to an important group of microsomal metabolic enzymes, the cytochromes P450 (P450), which are critical in determining the disposition, safety and efficacy of drugs in man. Measurement of the P450 induction profile in response to chemicals is a fundamental aspect of drug safety evaluation and is currently achieved by low-throughput methods employing poorly discriminatory antibodies or substrates. Tagging technology is shown to supersede conventional methods for P450 profiling in terms of discriminatory power and throughput, exemplified by the simultaneous detection of distinct induction profiles for cyp2c subfamily members in response to phenobarbitone: cyp2c29 expression, but not cyp2c40 or cyp2c50, was induced threefold by treatment. This technology should abbreviate the drug development pathway, and provide a widely applicable, rapid means of quantifying proteins.

Temporal quantitation of mutant Kit tyrosine kinase signaling attenuated by a novel thiophene kinase inhibitor OSI-930.

OSI-930, a potent thiophene inhibitor of the Kit, KDR, and platelet-derived growth factor receptor tyrosine kinases, was used to selectively inhibit tyrosine phosphorylation downstream of juxtamembrane mutant Kit in the mast cell leukemia line HMC-1. Inhibition of Kit kinase activity resulted in a rapid dephosphorylation of Kit and inhibition of the downstream signaling pathways. Attenuation of Ras-Raf-Erk (phospho-Erk, phospho-p38), phosphatidyl inositol-3' kinase (phospho-p85, phospho-Akt, phospho-S6), and signal transducers and activators of transcription signaling pathways (phospho-STAT3/5/6) were measured by affinity liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry, by immunoblot, and by tissue microarrays of fixed cell pellets. To more globally define additional components of Kit signaling temporally altered by kinase inhibition, a novel multiplex quantitative isobaric peptide labeling approach was used. This approach allowed clustering of proteins by temporal expression patterns. Kit kinase, which dephosphorylates rapidly upon kinase inhibition, was shown to regulate both Shp-1 and BDP-1 tyrosine phosphatases and the phosphatase-interacting protein PSTPIP2. Interactions with SH2 domain adapters [growth factor receptor binding protein 2 (Grb2), Cbl, Slp-76] and SH3 domain adapters (HS1, cortactin, CD2BP3) were attenuated by inhibition of Kit kinase activity. Functional crosstalk between Kit and the non-receptor tyrosine kinases Fes/Fps, Fer, Btk, and Syk was observed. Inhibition of Kit modulated phosphorylation-dependent interactions with pathways controlling focal adhesion (paxillin, leupaxin, p130CAS, FAK1, the Src family kinase Lyn, Wasp, Fhl-3, G25K, Ack-1, Nap1, SH3P12/ponsin) and septin-actin complexes (NEDD5, cdc11, actin). The combined use of isobaric protein quantitation and expression clustering, immunoblot, and tissue microarray strategies allowed temporal measurement signaling pathways modulated by mutant Kit inhibition in a model of mast cell leukemia.

Phosphotyrosine signaling networks in epidermal growth factor receptor overexpressing squamous carcinoma cells.

Overexpression and enhanced activation of the epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor are frequent events in human cancers that correlate with poor prognosis. Anti-phosphotyrosine and anti-EGFr affinity chromatography, isotope-coded muLC-MS/MS, and immunoblot methods were combined to describe and measure signaling networks associated with EGF receptor activation and pharmacological inhibition. The squamous carcinoma cell line HN5, which overexpresses EGF receptor and displays sustained receptor kinase activation, was used as a model system, where pharmacological inhibition of EGF receptor kinase by erlotinib markedly reduced auto and substrate phosphorylation, Src family phosphorylation at EGFR Y845, while increasing total EGF receptor protein. Diverse sets of known and poorly described functional protein classes were unequivocally identified by affinity selection, comprising either proteins tyrosine phosphorylated or complexed therewith, predominantly through EGF receptor and Src family kinases, principally 1) immediate EGF receptor signaling complexes (18%); 2) complexes involved in adhesion and cell-cell contacts (34%); and 3) receptor internalization and degradation signals. Novel and known phosphorylation sites could be located despite the complexity of the peptide mixtures. In addition to interactions with multiple signaling adaptors Grb2, SHC, SCK, and NSP2, EGF receptors in HN5 cells were shown to form direct or indirect physical interactions with additional kinases including ACK1, focal adhesion kinase (FAK), Pyk2, Yes, EphA2, and EphB4. Pharmacological inhibition of EGF receptor kinase activity by erlotinib resulted in reduced phosphorylation of downstream signaling, for example through Cbl/Cbl-B, phospholipase Cgamma (PLCgamma), Erk1/2, PI-3 kinase, and STAT3/5. Focal adhesion proteins, FAK, Pyk2, paxillin, ARF/GIT1, and plakophillin were down-regulated by transient EGF stimulation suggesting a complex balance between growth factor induced kinase and phosphatase activities in the control of cell adhesion complexes. The functional interactions between IGF-1 receptor, lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) signaling, and EGF receptor were observed, both direct and/or indirectly on phospho-Akt, phospho-Erk1/2, and phospho-ribosomal S6.

Proteomic analysis of Trypanosoma cruzi developmental stages using isotope-coded affinity tag reagents.

Comparative proteome analysis of developmental stages of the human pathogen Trypanosoma cruzi was carried out by isotope-coded affinity tag technology (ICAT) associated with liquid cromatography-mass spectrometry peptide sequencing (LC-MS/MS). Protein extracts of the protozoan trypomastigote and amastigote stages were labeled with heavy (D8) and light (D0) ICAT reagents and subjected to cation exchange and avidin affinity chromatographies followed by LC-MS/MS analysis. High confidence sequence information and expression levels for 41 T. cruzi polypeptides, including metabolic enzymes, paraflagellar rod components, tubulins, and heat-shock proteins were reported. Twenty-nine proteins displayed similar levels of expression in both forms of the parasite, nine proteins presented higher levels in trypomastigotes, whereas three were more expressed in amastigotes.