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Diet-Induced Neuropeptide Expression: Feasibility of Quantifying Extended and Highly Charged Endogenous Peptide Sequences by Selected Reaction Monitoring

Understanding regulation and action of endogenous peptides, especially neuropeptides, which serve as inter- and intracellular signal transmitters, is key in understanding a variety of functional processes, such as energy balance, memory, circadian rhythm, drug addiction, etc. Therefore, accurate and reproducible quantification of these bioactive endogenous compounds is highly relevant. The biosynthesis of endogenous peptides, involving multiple possible trimming and modification events, hinders the de novo prediction of the active peptide sequences, making MS-based measurements very valuable in determining the actual active compounds. Here, we report an extended selected reaction monitoring (SRM)-based strategy to reproducibly and quantitatively monitor the abundances of a set of 15 endogenously occurring peptides from Rattus norvegicus hypothalamus. We demonstrate that SRM can be extended toward reproducible detection and quantification of peptides, bearing characteristics very different from tryptic peptides. We show that long peptide sequences, producing precursors with up to five and MS2 fragment ions with up to three charges, can be targeted by SRM on a triple quadrupole instrument. Using this approach to quantify endogenous peptide levels in hypothalami of animals subjected to different diets revealed several significant changes, most notably the significant upregulation of VGF-derived signaling peptide AQEE-30 upon high caloric feeding.

Schmidlin T, Boender AJ, Frese CK, Heck AJ, Adan RA, Altelaar AF.

Anal Chem. 2015 Oct 6;87(19):9966-9973

 

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PhosphoPath: Visualization of Phosphosite-centric Dynamics in Temporal Molecular Networks

Protein phosphorylation is an essential post-translational modification (PTM) regulating many biological processes at the cellular and multicellular level. Continuous improvements in phosphoproteomics technology allow the analysis of this PTM in an expanding biological content. Yet, up till now proteome data visualization tools are still very gene centric, hampering the ability to comprehensively map and study PTM dynamics. Here we present PhosphoPath, a Cytoscape app designed for the visualization and analysis of quantitative proteome and phosphoproteome datasets. PhosphoPath brings knowledge into the biological network by importing publically available data, and enables PTM site-specific visualization of information from quantitative time series. To showcase PhosphoPath performance we use a quantitative proteomics dataset comparing patient derived melanoma cell lines grown either in conventional cell culture or xenografts.

PhosphoPath: Visualization of phosphosite-centric dynamics in temporal molecular networks

Raaijmakers LM, Giansanti P, Possik PA, Mueller J, Peeper DS, Heck AJ, Altelaar AF.
J Proteome Res. 2015 Oct 2;14(10):4332-4341
50 free e-prints of the final published article are available for interested colleagues: click here
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Signal Transduction Reaction Monitoring Deciphers Site-Specific PI3K-mTOR/MAPK Pathway Dynamics in Oncogene-Induced Senescence

We report a straightforward strategy to comprehensively monitor signal transduction pathway dynamics in mammalian systems. Combining targeted quantitative proteomics with highly selective phosphopeptide enrichment, we monitor, with great sensitivity, phosphorylation dynamics of the PI3K-mTOR and MAPK signaling networks. Our approach consists of a single enrichment step followed by a single targeted proteomics experiment, circumventing the need for labeling and immune purification while enabling analysis of selected phosphorylation nodes throughout signaling pathways. The need for such a comprehensive pathway analysis is illustrated by highlighting previously uncharacterized phosphorylation changes in oncogene-induced senescence, associated with diverse biological phenotypes and pharmacological intervention of the PI3K-mTOR pathway.

de Graaf EL, Kaplon J, Mohammed S, Vereijken LA, Duarte DP, Redondo Gallego L, Heck AJ, Peeper DS, Altelaar AF.

J Proteome Res. 2015 Jul 2;14(7):2906-14.

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Benchmarking multiple fragmentation methods on an orbitrap fusion for top-down phospho-proteoform characterization.

Top-down analysis of intact proteins by mass spectrometry provides an ideal platform for comprehensive proteoform characterization, in particular, for the identification and localization of post-translational modifications (PTM) co-occurring on a protein. One of the main bottlenecks in top-down proteomics is insufficient protein sequence coverage caused by incomplete protein fragmentation. Based on previous work on peptides, increasing sequence coverage and PTM localization by combining sequential ETD and HCD fragmentation in a single fragmentation event, we hypothesized that protein sequence coverage and phospho-proteoform characterization could be equally improved by this new dual fragmentation method termed EThcD, recently been made available on the Orbitrap Fusion. Here, we systematically benchmark the performance of several (hybrid) fragmentation methods for intact protein analysis on an Orbitrap Fusion, using as a model system a 17.5 kDa N-terminal fragment of the mitotic regulator Bora. During cell division Bora becomes multiply phosphorylated by a variety of cell cycle kinases, including Aurora A and Plk1, albeit at distinctive sites. Here, we monitor the phosphorylation of Bora by Aurora A and Plk1, analyzing the generated distinctive phospho-proteoforms by top-down fragmentation. We show that EThcD and ETciD on a Fusion are feasible and capable of providing richer fragmentation spectra compared to HCD or ETD alone, increasing protein sequence coverage, and thereby facilitating phosphosite localization and the determination of kinase specific phosphorylation sites in these phospho-proteoforms. Data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD001845.

Brunner AM, Lössl P, Liu F, Huguet R, Mullen C, Yamashita M, Zabrouskov V, Makarov A, Altelaar AF, Heck AJ.

Anal Chem. 2015 Apr 21;87(8):4152-4158

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ROCK1 is a potential combinatorial drug target for BRAF mutant melanoma

Treatment of BRAF mutant melanomas with specific BRAF inhibitors leads to tumor remission. However, most patients eventually relapse due to drug resistance. Therefore, we designed an integrated strategy using (phospho)proteomic and functional genomic platforms to identify drug targets whose inhibition sensitizes melanoma cells to BRAF inhibition. We found many proteins to be induced upon PLX4720 (BRAF inhibitor) treatment that are known to be involved in BRAF inhibitor resistance, including FOXD3 and ErbB3. Several proteins were down-regulated, including Rnd3, a negative regulator of ROCK1 kinase. For our genomic approach, we performed two parallel shRNA screens using a kinome library to identify genes whose inhibition sensitizes to BRAF or ERK inhibitor treatment. By integrating our functional genomic and (phospho)proteomic data, we identified ROCK1 as a potential drug target for BRAF mutant melanoma. ROCK1 silencing increased melanoma cell elimination when combined with BRAF or ERK inhibitor treatment. Translating this to a preclinical setting, a ROCK inhibitor showed augmented melanoma cell death upon BRAF or ERK inhibition in vitro. These data merit exploration of ROCK1 as a target in combination with current BRAF mutant melanoma therapies.

Smit MA1, Maddalo G2, Greig K1, Raaijmakers LM3, Possik PA1, van Breukelen B3, Cappadona S3, Heck AJ3, Altelaar AF4, Peeper DS5.

Mol Syst Biol. 2014 Dec 23;10:772. doi: 10.15252/msb.20145450

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Single-step enrichment by Ti4+-IMAC and label-free quantitation enables in-depth monitoring of phosphorylation dynamics with high reproducibility and temporal resolution.

Quantitative phosphoproteomics workflows traditionally involve additional sample labeling and fractionation steps for accurate and in-depth analysis. Here we report a high-throughput, straightforward, and comprehensive label-free phosphoproteomics approach using the highly selective, reproducible, and sensitive Ti(4+)-IMAC phosphopeptide enrichment method. We demonstrate the applicability of this approach by monitoring the phosphoproteome dynamics of Jurkat T cells stimulated by prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) over six different time points, measuring in total 108 snapshots of the phosphoproteome. In total, we quantitatively monitored 12,799 unique phosphosites over all time points with very high quantitative reproducibility (average r > 0.9 over 100 measurements and a median cv < 0.2). PGE2 is known to increase cellular cAMP levels, thereby activating PKA. The in-depth analysis revealed temporal regulation of a wide variety of phosphosites associated not only with PKA, but also with a variety of other classes of kinases. Following PGE2 stimulation, several pathways became only transiently activated, revealing that in-depth dynamic profiling requires techniques with high temporal resolution. Moreover, the large publicly available dataset provides a valuable resource for downstream PGE2 signaling dynamics in T cells, and cAMP-mediated signaling in particular. More generally, our method enables in-depth, quantitative, high-throughput phosphoproteome screening on any system, requiring very little sample, sample preparation, and analysis time.

de Graaf EL, Giansanti P, Altelaar AF, Heck AJ.

Mol Cell Proteomics. 2014 Sep;13(9):2426-2434.

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Phosphoproteome dynamics in onset and maintenance of oncogene-induced senescence.

Expression of the BRAF(V600E) oncoprotein is known to cause benign lesions, such as melanocytic nevi (moles). Despite the oncogenic function of mutant BRAF, these lesions are arrested by a cell-autonomous mechanism called oncogene-induced senescence. Infrequently, nevi can progress to malignant melanoma, through mechanisms that are incompletely understood. To gain more insight into this vital tumor-suppression mechanism, we performed a mass-spectrometry-based screening of the proteome and phosphoproteome in cycling and senescent cells and in cells with abrogated senescence. Proteome analysis of senescent cells revealed the up-regulation of established senescence biomarkers, including specific cytokines, but also several proteins not previously associated with senescence, including extracellular matrix-interacting. Using both general and targeted phosphopeptide enrichment by Ti(4+)-IMAC and phosphotyrosine antibody enrichment, we identified over 15,000 phosphorylation sites. Among the regulated phosphorylation sites we encountered components of the interleukin, BRAF/MAPK, and CDK-retinoblastoma pathways and several other factors. The extensive proteome and phosphoproteome dataset of BRAF(V600E)-expressing senescent cells provides molecular clues as to how oncogene-induced senescence is initiated, maintained, or evaded, serving as a comprehensive proteomic basis for functional validation.

de Graaf EL, Kaplon J, Zhou H, Heck AJ, Peeper DS, Altelaar AF.

Mol Cell Proteomics. 2014 Aug;13(8):2089-2100.

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Benchmarking stable isotope labeling based quantitative proteomics.

Several quantitative mass spectrometry based technologies have recently evolved to interrogate the complexity, interconnectivity and dynamic nature of proteomes. Currently, the most popular methods use either metabolic or chemical isotope labeling with MS based quantification or chemical labeling using isobaric tags with MS/MS based quantification. Here, we assess the performance of three of the most popular approaches through systematic independent large scale quantitative proteomics experiments, comparing SILAC, dimethyl and TMT labeling strategies. Although all three methods have their strengths and weaknesses, our data indicate that all three can reach a similar depth in number of identified proteins using a classical (MS2 based) shotgun approach. TMT quantification using only MS2 is heavily affected by co-isolation leading to compromised precision and accuracy. This issue may be partly resolved by using an MS3 based acquisition; however, at the cost of a significant reduction in number of proteins quantified. Interestingly, SILAC and chemical labeling with MS based quantification produce almost indistinguishable results, independent of which database search algorithm used.

Altelaar AF, Frese CK, Preisinger C, Hennrich ML, Schram AW, Timmers HT, Heck AJ, Mohammed S.

J Proteomics. 2013 Aug 2;88:14-26.

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Profiling of diet-induced neuropeptide changes in rat brain by quantitative mass spectrometry.

Neuropeptides are intercellular signal transmitters that play key roles in modulation of many behavioral and physiological processes. Neuropeptide signaling in several nuclei in the hypothalamus contributes to the control of food intake. Additionally, food intake regulation involves neuropeptide signaling in the reward circuitry in the striatum. Here, we analyze neuropeptides extracted from hypothalamus and striatum from rats in four differentially treated dietary groups including a high-fat/high-sucrose diet, mimicking diet-induced obesity. We employ high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry using higher-energy collision dissociation and electron transfer dissociation fragmentation for sensitive identification of more than 1700 unique endogenous peptides, including virtually all key neuropeptides known to be involved in food intake regulation. Label-free quantification of differential neuropeptide expression revealed comparable upregulation of orexigenic and anorexigenic neuropeptides in rats that were fed on a high-fat/high-sucrose diet.

Frese CK, Boender AJ, Mohammed S, Heck AJ, Adan RA, Altelaar AF.

Anal Chem. 2013 May 7;85(9):4594-4604.

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Deep proteome profiling of Trichoplax adhaerens reveals remarkable features at the origin of metazoan multicellularity.

Genome sequencing of arguably the simplest known animal, Trichoplax adhaerens, uncovered a rich array of transcription factor and signalling pathway genes. Although the existence of such genes allows speculation about the presence of complex regulatory events, it does not reveal the level of actual protein expression and functionalization through posttranslational modifications. Using high-resolution mass spectrometry, we here semi-quantify 6,516 predicted proteins, revealing evidence of horizontal gene transfer and the presence at the protein level of nodes important in animal signalling pathways. Moreover, our data demonstrate a remarkably high activity of tyrosine phosphorylation, in line with the hypothesized burst of tyrosine-regulated signalling at the instance of animal multicellularity. Together, this Trichoplax proteomics data set offers significant new insight into the mechanisms underlying the emergence of metazoan multicellularity and provides a resource for interested researchers.
Ringrose JH, van den Toorn HW, Eitel M, Post H, Neerincx P, Schierwater B, Altelaar AF, Heck AJ.
Nat Commun. 2013;4:1408.