Improved N(α)-acetylated peptide enrichment following dimethyl labeling and SCX

J Proteome Res. 2013 Jul 5;12(7):3277-87. doi: 10.1021/pr400127j. Epub 2013 Jun 19.

Abstract

Protein N-terminal acetylation is one of the most common modifications occurring co- and post-translationally on either eukaryote or prokaryote proteins. However, compared to other protein modifications, the physiological role of protein N-terminal acetylation is relatively unclear. To explore the biological functions of protein N-terminal acetylation, a robust and large-scale method for qualitative and quantitative analysis of this modification is required. Enrichment of N(α)-acetylated peptides or depletion of the free N-terminal and internal tryptic peptides prior to analysis by mass spectrometry are necessary based on current technologies. This study demonstrated a simple strong cation exchange (SCX) fractionation method to selectively enrich N(α)-acetylated tryptic peptides via dimethyl labeling without the need for tedious protective labeling and depleting procedures. This method was introduced for the comprehensive analysis of N-terminal acetylated proteins from HepG2 cells. Several hundred N-terminal acetylation sites were readily identified in a single SCX flow-through fraction. Moreover, the N(α)-acetylated peptides of some protein isoforms were simultaneously observed in the SCX flow-through fraction, which indicated that this approach can be utilized to discriminate protein isoforms with very similar full sequences but different N-terminal sequences, such as β-actin/γ-actin, ERK1/ERK2, α-centractin/β-centractin, and ADP/ATP translocase 2 and 3. Compared to other methods, this method is relatively simple and can be directly implemented in a two-dimensional separation (SCX-RP)-mass spectrometry scheme for quantitative N-terminal proteomics using stable-isotope dimethyl labeling.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Acetylation
  • Cation Exchange Resins / chemistry*
  • Hep G2 Cells
  • Humans
  • Isotope Labeling
  • Peptides / chemistry
  • Peptides / isolation & purification*
  • Protein Processing, Post-Translational*
  • Proteins / chemistry
  • Proteins / isolation & purification*
  • Proteomics / methods
  • Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Substances

  • Cation Exchange Resins
  • Peptides
  • Proteins