Strategies for nonradioactive methods in the localization of phosphorylated amino acids in proteins

FASEB J. 1993 Jun;7(9):776-82. doi: 10.1096/fasebj.7.9.7687226.

Abstract

Identification of O-phosphorylated amino acids within the primary structure of regulatory proteins is important in understanding the mechanisms by which their functions are regulated. In many cases radioactive labeling with [32P]phosphate is tedious or sometimes impossible. Therefore, we have established a series of new non-radioactive methods that permit the localization of phosphoserine, phosphothreonine, and phosphotyrosine. After partial hydrolysis of a phosphopeptide or phosphoprotein, phosphoserine, phosphothreonine, or phosphotyrosine are determined by capillary electrophoresis as their dabsyl-derivatives. Chemical modification transforms phosphoserine or phosphothreonine to S-ethyl-cysteine or beta-methyl-S-ethyl-cysteine, respectively, allowing their localization during sequence analysis. We apply solid-phase sequencing to overcome the limitations of the gas-phase sequenator in the case of phosphotyrosine-containing peptides. Liquid chromatography on-line connected to an electrospray mass spectrometer is a powerful new method of increasing importance in the protein chemistry field. It is especially well suited for identification of phosphoserine- or phosphothreonine-containing peptides in a proteolytic digest of a phosphoprotein. In this article we will describe how to work with these new methods practically.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Amino Acids / analysis*
  • Mass Spectrometry / methods
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Phosphoproteins / analysis*
  • Phosphoproteins / chemistry
  • Phosphoserine / analysis
  • Phosphothreonine / analysis
  • Phosphotyrosine
  • Tyrosine / analogs & derivatives
  • Tyrosine / analysis

Substances

  • Amino Acids
  • Phosphoproteins
  • Phosphothreonine
  • Phosphoserine
  • Phosphotyrosine
  • Tyrosine