Protein footprinting is a term used to refer to a method of biochemical analysis that investigates protein structure, assembly, and interactions within a larger macromolecular assembly. It was originally coined in reference to the use of limited proteolysis to investigate contact sites within a monoclonal antibody - protein antigen complex[1] and a year later to examine the protection from hydroxyl radical cleavage conferred by a protein bound to DNA within a DNA-protein complex.[2] In DNA footprinting the protein is envisioned to make an imprint (or footprint) at a particular point of interaction.[3] This latter method was adapted through the direct treatment of proteins and their complexes with hydroxyl radicals.[4][5]
Contents
- 1 Hydroxyl radical protein footprinting
- 2 Producing OH radicals
- 3 Method
- 4 Analysis
- 5 Applications
- 6 See also
- 7 References
Time-resolved hydroxyl radical protein footprinting employing mass spectrometry analysis was developed in the late 1990s in synchrotron radiolysis studies.[6][7] The same year, these authors reported on the use of an electrical discharge source to effect the oxidation of proteins on millisecond timescales as proteins pass from the electrosprayed solution into the mass spectrometer.[8] These approaches have since been used to determine protein structures,[9] protein folding, protein dynamics, and protein–protein interactions.[10]
Unlike nucleic acids, proteins oxidize rather than cleave on these timescales. Analysis of the products by mass spectrometry reveals that proteins to are oxidized in a limited manner (some 10–30% of total protein) at a number of amino acid side chains across the proteins. The rate or level of oxidation at the reactive amino acid side chains (Met, Cys, Trp, Tyr, Phe, His, Pro and Leu) provides a measure of their accessibility to the bulk solvent. The mechanisms of side chain oxidation was explored by performing the radiolysis reactions in 18O-labeled water.
Producing OH radicals
A critical feature of these experiments is the need to expose proteins to hydroxyl radicals for limited timescales on the order of 1–50 ms inducing 10-30% oxidation of total protein. A further requirement is to generate hydroxyl radicals from the bulk solvent (i.e. water) (equations 1 and 2) not hydrogen peroxide which can remain to oxidize proteins even without other stimuli.[11]
- H2O → H2O+• + e− + H2O*
- H2O+• + H2O → H3O+ + OH•
Hydroxyl radicals can be produced in solution by an electrical discharge within a conventional atmospheric pressure electrospray ionization (ESI) source. When a high voltage difference (~8 keV) is held between an electrospray needle and a sampling orifice to the mass analyzer, radicals can be produced in solution at the electrospray needle tip. This method was the first employed to apply protein footprinting to the study of a protein complex.[12]
Method
The exposure of proteins to a "white" X-ray beam of synchrotron light or an electrical discharge for tens of milliseconds provides sufficient oxidative modification to the surface amino acid side chains without damage to the protein structure. These products can be easily detected and quantified by mass spectrometry. By adjusting the time for radiolysis or which protein ions spend in the discharge source, a time-resolved approach is possible which is valuable for the study of protein dynamics.
Analysis
A computer program has also been written to help model protein complexes using data from the RP-MS/Protein footprinting approach.[13] RP-MS/Protein footprinting studies of protein complexes can also employ computational approaches to assist with this modeling.[14]
Applications
The application of ion mobility mass spectrometry has conclusively demonstrated that the conditions employed in RP-MS/Protein footprinting experiments do not alter the structure of proteins.[15]
Other studies have extended the method to study early onset protein damage given the radical basis of the method and the significance of oxygen based radicals in the pathogenesis of many diseases including neurological disorders and even blindness.[16]
See also
- Hydrogen–deuterium exchange
- Peptide mass fingerprinting
- Protein sequencing
- DNA profiling
References
- ^ Sheshberadaran, H; L G Payne (1988). "Protein antigen-monoclonal antibody contact sites investigated by limited proteolysis of monoclonal antibody-bound antigen: protein "footprinting"". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 85 (1): 1–5. doi:10.1073/pnas.85.1.1. Retrieved 2013-09-15.
- ^ Shafer, G E; M A Price T D Tullius (1989). "Use of the hydroxyl radical and gel electrophoresis to study DNA structure". Electrophoresis 10 (5-6): 397–404. doi:10.1002/elps.1150100518.
- ^ Galas, David J (2001). "The invention of footprinting". Trends in Biochemical Sciences 26 (11): 690–693. doi:10.1016/S0968-0004(01)01979-X. ISSN 0968-0004. PMID 11701330.
- ^ Maleknia, Simin D.; Downard, Kevin M. (2014). "Advances in radical probe mass spectrometry for protein footprinting in chemical biology applications". Chemical Society Reviews 43: 3244–3258. doi:10.1039/C3CS60432B.
- ^ Wang, Liwen; Chance, Mark R. (2011). "Structural Mass Spectrometry of Proteins Using Hydroxyl Radical Based Protein Footprinting". Analytical Chemistry 83 (19): 7234–7241. doi:10.1021/ac200567u. ISSN 0003-2700. PMC 3184339. PMID 21770468.
- ^ Maleknia, Simin D.; Brenowitz, Michael; Chance, Mark R. (1999). "Millisecond Radiolytic Modification of Peptides by Synchrotron X-rays Identified by Mass Spectrometry". Analytical Chemistry 71 (18): 3965–3973. doi:10.1021/ac990500e. ISSN 0003-2700. PMID 10500483.
- ^ Maleknia, Simin D.; Ralston, Corie Y.; Brenowitz, Michael D.; Downard, Kevin M.; Chance, Mark R. (2001). "Determination of Macromolecular Folding and Structure by Synchrotron X-Ray Radiolysis Techniques". Analytical Biochemistry 289 (2): 103–115. doi:10.1006/abio.2000.4910. ISSN 0003-2697. PMID 11161303.
- ^ Maleknia, Simin D.; Chance, Mark R.; Downard, Kevin M. (1999). "Electrospray-assisted modification of proteins: a radical probe of protein structure". Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 13 (23): 2352–2358. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1097-0231(19991215)13:23<2352::AID-RCM798>3.0.CO;2-X. ISSN 0951-4198. PMID 10567934.
- ^ Maleknia, Simin D.; Kiselar, Janna G.; Downard, Kevin M. (2002). "Hydroxyl radical probe of the surface of lysozyme by synchrotron radiolysis and mass spectrometry". Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 16 (1): 53–61. doi:10.1002/rcm.543. ISSN 0951-4198. PMID 11754247.
- ^ Maleknia, Simin D.; Downard, Kevin M. (2001). "Radical approaches to probe protein structure, folding, and interactions by mass spectrometry". Mass Spectrometry Reviews 20 (6): 388–401. doi:10.1002/mas.10013. ISSN 0277-7037. PMID 11997945.
- ^ Kevin Downard (24 August 2007). Mass Spectrometry of Protein Interactions. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-470-14632-3. Retrieved 14 September 2013.
- ^ Wong, Jason W. H.; Maleknia, Simin D.; Downard, Kevin M. (2003). "Study of the Ribonuclease−S-Protein−Peptide Complex Using a Radical Probe and Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry". Analytical Chemistry 75 (7): 1557–1563. doi:10.1021/ac026400h. ISSN 0003-2700. PMID 12705585.
- ^ Gerega, S. K.; Downard, K. M. (2006). "PROXIMO--a new docking algorithm to model protein complexes using data from radical probe mass spectrometry (RP-MS)". Bioinformatics 22 (14): 1702–1709. doi:10.1093/bioinformatics/btl178. ISSN 1367-4803. PMID 16679333.
- ^ Downard, Kevin M.; Kokabu, Yuichi; Ikeguchi, Mitsunori; Akashi, Satoko (2011). "Homology-modelled structure of the βB2B3-crystallin heterodimer studied by ion mobility and radical probe MS". FEBS Journal 278 (21): 4044–4054. doi:10.1111/j.1742-4658.2011.08309.x. ISSN 1742-464X. PMID 21848669.
- ^ Downard, Kevin M.; Maleknia, Simin D.; Akashi, Satoko (2012). "Impact of limited oxidation on protein ion mobility and structure of importance to footprinting by radical probe mass spectrometry". Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 26 (3): 226–230. doi:10.1002/rcm.5320. ISSN 0951-4198. PMID 22223306.
- ^ Shum, Wai-Kei; Maleknia, Simin D.; Downard, Kevin M. (2005). "Onset of oxidative damage in α-crystallin by radical probe mass spectrometry". Analytical Biochemistry 344 (2): 247–256. doi:10.1016/j.ab.2005.06.035. ISSN 0003-2697. PMID 16091281.
