Quantitative detection of phosphoproteins by combination of two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis and phosphospecific fluorescent staining

Here we combine a standard two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis (DIGE) protocol with subsequent post-staining of gels with phosphospecific fluorescent Pro-Q Diamond dye. The combination of these two methods for fluorescence detection of proteins allows quantitative detection of phosphoproteins in 2-DE-gels. We established this protocol within a functional proteomics experiment. Mammary epithelial cells (EpH4) were stimulated in culture by epidermal growth factor (EGF), endosomal fractions prepared after subcellular fractionation and phosphorylated proteins successfully detected on endosomes. For instance, Endo A cytokeratin, known as phosphoprotein and differentiation marker inducible by MAPK signaling, was identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight-mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS). With this protocol, all steps of combined proteome and phosphoproteome profiling experiments are significantly simplified and accelerated, taking full advantage of both methods in terms of specificity, sensitivity and accuracy of quantification.     

High-sensitivity staining of proteins for one- and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis using post migration covalent staining with a ruthenium fluorophore

This paper describes the use of a ruthenium complex ((bis(2,2'-bipyridine)-4'-methyl-4-carboxybipyridine-ruthenium-N-succidimyl ester-bis(hexafluorophosphate), abbreviated below as ASCQ_Ru) commercially available and chemically pure. This new ruthenium complex ASCQ_Ru brings an activated ester, allowing the selective acylation of amino acid side chain amines for the post migration staining of proteins separated in 1-DE and 2-DE. The protocol used is a simple three-step protocol fixing the proteins in the gel, staining and then washing, as no lengthy destaining step is required. First the critical staining step was optimized. Although in solution the best described pH for acylating proteins with this reagent is phosphate buffer at pH 7.0, we found that best medium for in-gel staining is unbuffered ACN/water solution (20/80 v/v). The two other steps are less critical and classical conditions are satisfactory: fixing with 7% acetic acid/10% ethanol solution and washing four times for 10 min with water. Sensitivity tests were performed using 1-DE on protein molecular weight markers. We obtained a higher sensitivity than SYPRO Ruby with a detection limit of 80 pg of protein per well. However, contrary to SYPRO Ruby, ASCQ_Ru exhibits a logarithmic dependency on the amount of protein. The dynamic range is similar to SYPRO Ruby and is estimated between three and four orders of magnitude. Finally, the efficiency of the post migration ASCQ_Ru staining for 2-D gel separation is demonstrated on the whole protein extract from human colon carcinoma cells lines HCT 116. ASCQ_Ru gave the highest number of spot detected compared to other common stains Colloidal CBB, SYPRO Ruby and Deep Purple.     

Dialysis-assisted two-dimensional gel electrophoresis

2-DE is an important tool in proteomics research. However, intrinsic gel-to-gel variability of 2-DE often masks the biological differences between the samples and compromises quantitative comparison of protein expression levels. Here, we describe a modification of 2-DE that results in improved matching and quantification of proteins. This was accomplished by performing IEF of two samples in two IPG strips separated by a dialysis membrane. After IEF running, the strips were separated and the SDS-PAGE dimension was accomplished on two individual gels. After gel staining with CBB, ImageMaster 2D Platinum software (Amersham) was used for spot detection and quantification. Analysis of protein extracts from C2C12 myoblasts by this method resulted in 99% spot-matching efficiency and CV in stain intensity (% volume) was less than 0.5 for 98% of spots. We conclude that this technique, called dialysis-assisted gel electrophoresis, gives superior spot matching and quantitative reproducibility compared to IEF conducted on separate strips.     

Solubilization of cellular membrane proteins from Streptococcus mutans for two-dimensional gel electrophoresis

Membrane proteins are rarely identified in two-dimensional electrophoretic (2-DE) proteomics maps. This is due to low abundancy, poor solubility, and inherent hydrophobicity leading to self-aggregation during the first dimension. In this study, membrane proteins from the Gram-positive bacterium Streptococcus mutans were solubilized using three different methods and evaluated by 2-DE. In the first method, the extraction was performed using sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) followed by solubilization with a chaotropic buffer and precipitation with methanol/chloroform. The second method was based on temperature-dependent phase partitioning using Triton X-114 followed by purification using the ReadyPrep 2-D clean-up kit from Bio-Rad. The third method involved extraction using the organic solvents trifluoroethanol (TFE) and chloroform, which produced three separate phases. The upper aqueous phase, enriched with TFE, gave the highest overall protein yield and best 2-DE resolution. Protein spot identification by nanoelectrospray quadrupole time of flight (QTOF)-tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) revealed known membrane and surface-associated proteins. This is the first report describing the successful solubilization and 2-D electrophoresis of membrane proteins from a Gram-positive bacterium.     

Towards validating a method for two-dimensional electrophoresis/silver staining

Two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) is a technique involving numerous steps, many of them to be performed manually. Hence, some operator dependency must be taken into account. An attempt to elucidate the reliability of 2-DE combined with silver staining is presented, employing the general practice to validate a method in pharmaceutical analysis. Most proteomic studies employing 2-DE aim at qualitative or quantitative differences in protein expression. One of the most sensitive and broadly applied staining techniques is silver staining. In order to gain information on accuracy, precision, linearity, and ruggedness of this technique, gels were run in replicates with different amounts of protein from a complex standard sample. In addition, sets of gels were repeated by two different operators in a second independent laboratory equipped with identical hardware and software. Our results show that reliable qualitative data on differential protein expression can be obtained by 2-DE, nevertheless replicate gels should be run and experimental conditions have to be kept stringently to a standardized protocol. Quantitative data are just achievable with spots, which are well-resolved, of high quality, with an optical density (OD) above a certain threshold (OD > 10), and which show a linear response. Quantitative differences occurring due to method-derived deviations may easily be misinterpreted as true changes in protein expression. After normalization, relative standard deviation (RSD) values of approximately 30% (n = 4) could be obtained, therefore minor changes (< 50%) should be critically reviewed.     

Coomassie staining provides routine (sub)femtomole in‐gel detection of intact proteoforms: Expanding opportunities for genuine Top‐down Proteomics

Modified colloidal Coomassie Brilliant Blue (cCBB) staining utilising a novel destain protocol and near‐infrared fluorescence detection (nIRFD) rivals the in‐gel protein detection sensitivity (DS) of SYPRO Ruby. However, established DS estimates are likely inaccurate in terms of 2DE‐resolved proteoform ‘spots’ since DS is routinely measured from comparatively diffuse protein ‘bands’ following wide‐well 1DE. Here, cCBB DS for 2DE‐based proteomics was more accurately determined using narrow‐well 1DE. As precise estimates of protein standard monomer concentrations are essential for accurate quantitation, coupling UV absorbance with gel‐based purity assessments is described. Further, as cCBB is compatible with both nIRFD and densitometry, the impacts of imaging method (and image resolution) on DS were assessed. Narrow‐well 1DE enabled more accurate quantitation of cCBB DS for 2DE, achieving (sub)femtomole DS with either nIRFD or densitometry. While densitometry offers comparative simplicity and affordability, nIRFD has the unique potential for enhanced DS with Deep Imaging. Higher‐resolution nIRFD also improved analysis of a 2DE‐resolved proteome, surpassing the DS of standard nIRFD and densitometry, with nIRFD Deep Imaging further maximising proteome coverage. cCBB DS for intact proteins rivals that of mass spectrometry (MS) for peptides in complex mixtures, reaffirming that 2DE‐MS currently provides the most routine, broadly applicable, robust, and information‐rich Top‐down approach to Discovery Proteomics.     

Quantification, 2DE analysis and identification of enriched glycosylated proteins from mouse muscles: Difficulties and alternatives

One of the problems with 2DE is that proteins present in low amounts in a sample are usually not detected, since their signals are masked by the predominant proteins. The elimination of these abundant proteins is not a guaranteed solution to achieve the desired results. The main objective of this study was the comparison of common and simple methodologies employed for 2DE analysis followed by MS identification, focusing on a pre‐purified sample using a wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) column. Adult male C57Black/Crj6 (C57BL/6) mice were chosen as the model animal in this study; the gastrocnemius muscles were collected and processed for the experiments. The initial fractionation with succinylated WGA was successful for the elimination of the most abundant proteins. Two quantification methods were employed for the purified samples, and bicinchoninic acid (BCA) was proven to be most reliable for the quantification of glycoproteins. The gel staining method, however, was found to be decisive for the detection of specific proteins, since their structures affect the interaction of the dye with the peptide backbone. The Coomassie Blue R‐250 dye very weakly stained the gel with the WGA purified sample. When the same gel was stained with silver nitrate, however, MS could positively assign 12 new spots. The structure of the referred proteins was not found to be prone to interaction with Coomassie blue.     

A statistical comparison of silver and SYPRO Ruby staining for proteomic analysis

Silver staining has been the method most commonly employed for high sensitivity staining of proteins following two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. Whilst this method offers detection in the nanogram range it does have major drawbacks including a lack of linearity, nonstoichiometric staining of proteins, a lack of compatibility with the microchemical preparation of proteins for identification by mass spectrometric techniques, and a highly subjective assessment of the staining endpoint. SYPRO Ruby is a relatively new, ruthenium complex-based stain which is reported to offer advantages over silver, particularly in overcoming the limitations cited above. We describe a series of experiments where several protein staining procedures commonly employed are compared. To enable optimization of the in situ digestion procedure, a statistical approach has been undertaken. The effects of a variety of staining, digestion, and analysis protocols on the downstream processing of a test radiolabeled protein were studied. The data confirms that as well as offering sensitivity similar to silver, SYPRO Ruby staining is reproducible, linear, and offers a higher level of compatibility with the identification of proteins by mass spectrometry.     

Two-dimensional Blue Native/sodium dodecyl sulfate gel electrophoresis for analysis of multimeric proteins in platelets

Two-dimensional (2-D) Blue Native/SDS gel electrophoresis combines a first-dimensional separation of monomeric and multimeric proteins in their native state with a second denaturing dimension. These high-resolution 2-D gels aim at identifying multiprotein complexes with respect to their subunit composition. We applied this method for the first time to analyze two human platelet subproteomes: the cytosolic and the microsomal membrane protein fraction. Solubilization of platelet membrane proteins was achieved with the nondenaturing detergent n-dodecyl-beta-D-maltoside. To validate native solubilization conditions, we demonstrated the correct assembly of the Na,K-ATPase, a functional multimeric transmembrane protein, when expressed in Xenopus oocytes. We identified 63 platelet proteins after in-gel tryptic digestion of 58 selected protein spots and liquid chromatography-coupled tandem mass spectrometry. Nine proteins were detected for the first time in platelets by a proteomic approach. We also show that this technology efficiently resolves several known membrane and cytosolic multiprotein complexes. Blue Native/SDS gel electrophoresis is thus a valuable procedure to analyze specific platelet subproteomes, like the membrane(-bound) protein fraction, by mass spectrometry and immunoblotting and could be relevant for the study of protein-protein interactions generated following platelet activation.     

Agarose isoelectric focusing can improve resolution of membrane proteins in the two-dimensional electrophoresis of bacterial proteins

2-D separation of bacterial membrane proteins is still difficult despite using high-resolution IPG-IEF/SDS-PAGE. We were searching for alternative methods to avoid typical problems such as precipitation, low solubility, and aggregation of membrane proteins in the 1-D separation with IPG-IEF. Blue native electrophoresis (BNE) and agarose IEF (A-IEF) were tested for their separation capacity and their capability of replacing IPG-IEF in the first dimension. SDS-PAGE was chosen for the second dimension on account of its outstanding resolution. We could confirm that only A-IEF was a useful replacement for the IPG-IEF in the first dimension resulting in 2-D protein distributions with additional membrane protein spots not being found after IPG-IEF/SDS-PAGE. A second interesting result was that the agarose IEF mediates the possibility of separation of membrane proteins in a partially native state in the first dimension. This native A-IEF resulted in drastically changed spot patterns with an acidic shift of nearly all spots and divergent distribution of proteins compared to non-native A-IEF and IPG-IEF. We found out that native and non-native A-IEF are powerful tools to supplement IPG-IEF/SDS-PAGE.     

Evaluation of several two-dimensional gel electrophoresis techniques in cardiac proteomics

Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) is currently the best method for separating complex mixtures of proteins, and its use is gradually becoming more common in cardiac proteome analysis. A number of variations in basic 2-DE have emerged, but their usefulness in analyzing cardiac tissue has not been evaluated. The purpose of the present study was to systematically evaluate the capabilities and limitations of several 2-DE techniques for separating proteins from rat heart tissue. Immobilized pH gradient strips of various pH ranges, parameters of protein loading and staining, subcellular fractionation, and detection of phosphorylated proteins were studied. The results provide guidance for proteome analysis of cardiac and other tissues in terms of selection of the isoelectric point separating window for cardiac proteins, accurate quantitation of cardiac protein abundance, stabilization of technical variation, reduction of sample complexity, enrichment of low-abundant proteins, and detection of phosphorylated proteins.     

An effective skeletal muscle prefractionation method to remove abundant structural proteins for optimized two-dimensional gel electrophoresis

Proteomic analysis of biological samples in disease models or therapeutic intervention studies requires the ability to detect and identify biologically relevant proteins present in relatively low concentrations. The detection and analysis of these low-level proteins is hindered by the presence of a few proteins that are expressed in relatively high concentrations. In the case of muscle tissue, highly abundant structural proteins, such as actin, myosin, and tropomyosin, compromise the detection and analysis of more biologically relevant proteins. We have developed a practical protocol which exploits high-pH extraction to reduce or remove abundant structural proteins from skeletal muscle crude membrane preparations in a manner suitable for two dimensional gel electrophoresis. An initial whole-cell muscle lysate is generated by homogenization of powdered tissue in Tris-base. This lysate is subsequently partitioned into a supernatant and pellet containing the majority of structural proteins. Treatment of the pellet with high-pH conditions effectively releases structural proteins from membrane compartments which are then removed through ultracentrifugation. Mass spectrometric identification shows that the majority of protein spots reduced or removed by high-pH treatment were contractile proteins or contractile-related proteins. Removal of these proteins enabled successful detection and identification of minor proteins. Structural protein removal also results in significant improvement of gel quality and the ability to load higher amounts of total protein for the detection of lower abundant protein classes.     

Proteome analysis of Saccharomyces cerevisiae under metal stress by two-dimensional differential gel electrophoresis

The defense mechanism by which cells combat metal stress remains poorly understood. By utilizing a newly developed technique - the differential gel electrophoresis (DIGE) - we evaluated the biological alterations of metal stress on Saccharomyces cerevisiae at its translational level. By simultaneously comparing the differential expression profiles of thousands of proteins as results of 15 different metal treatments, we were able to closely examine the response of a large number of proteins within the yeast proteome towards individual metals, as well as the response of the same proteins towards different metals. This, to our knowledge, is the first case which demonstrates the potential of DIGE as a high-throughput tool for large-scale proteome analysis. From our studies, where yeast cells were exhaustively treated with exogenous metals, 20-30% of all proteins detected showed statistically significant changes. According to different effects (up-/downregulation) of protein expression levels observed, we were able to tentatively divide the 15 metals into three groups. By mass spectrometric analysis, more than 50 protein spots were positively identified, both quantitatively and qualitatively. One of the proteins was identified to be Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD1), and its expression levels as a result of 15 different metal treatments was further examined in greater details. Significant changes in SOD1 expression were observed throughout all 15 DIGE gels.     

A multivariate spot filtering model for two-dimensional gel electrophoresis

Image segmentation plays an important role in the automatic analysis of protein spots in 2-DE. Using image segments representing protein spots, the amount of protein in each segment can be quantified, and corresponding segments can be matched and compared for multiple gels. However, the common presence of image segments caused by noise and unwanted artefacts highly disturb the analysis and comparison of the gels. Common sources of such artefacts are cracks in the gel surface, fingerprints, dust and other pollutions. It would be advantageous to remove these unwanted artefacts during or after the segmentation procedure. To achieve this task a multivariate spot filtering model is developed using image segments from a gel segmentation. Parameters in the model are based on texture, shape and intensity measurements of the image segments. The model successfully managed to separate segments caused by noise, artefacts and cracks from image segments representing true protein spots. The classification method used is discriminant partial least squares regression.     

Heart‐cut nano‐LC–CZE–MS for the characterization of proteins on the intact level

Multidimensional separation techniques play an increasingly important role in separation science, especially for the analysis of complex samples such as proteins. The combination of reversed‐phase liquid chromatography in the nanoscale and CZE is especially beneficial due to their nearly orthogonal separation mechanism and well‐suited geometries/dimensions. Here, a heart‐cut nano‐LC–CZE–MS setup was developed utilizing for the first time a mechanical 4‐port valve as LC–CE interface. A model protein mixture containing four different protein species was first separated by nano LC followed by a heart‐cut transfer of individual LC peaks and subsequent CZE–MS analysis. In the CZE dimension, various glycoforms of one protein species were separated. Improved separation capabilities were achieved compared to the 1D methods, which was exemplarily shown for ribonuclease B and its different glycosylated forms. LODs in the lower μg/mL range were determined, which are considerably lower compared to traditional CZE–MS. In addition, this study represents the first application of an LC–CE–MS system for intact protein analysis. The nano‐LC–CZE–MS system is expected to be applicable to various other analytical challenges.     

High reproducibility of large-gel two-dimensional electrophoresis

Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) facilitates the separation of thousands of proteins from highly complex protein mixtures and has become a central method in proteomics in recent years. In the present study, we examined the technical variability of large 2-DE gels with respect to sample preparation, electrophoresis procedure, data acquisition, and biological variation by analyzing a disease (Huntington's disease) and control state with a commercially available software package, PROTEOMWEAVER trade mark. Scatter plots and correlation coefficients were obtained to quantify both technical and biological variation. Even 2-DE gels run separately in both dimensions yielded correlation coefficients around 0.88 and deviations from the mean close to 20% for low-intensity spots. This indicates a high technical reproducibility of the 2-DE procedure developed in our laboratory. Variability within a biological condition was low and comparable to technical variation (at least 0.87). Two-dimensional (2-D) gels obtained from samples of different biological conditions (health vs. disease) achieved a variability similar to intracondition and technical variability. These findings highlight the importance of multiple gel and spot-by-spot comparisons to identify biological significant changes. Minor errors introduced by technical and biological variation allow a comparison of all gels within a study which facilitates the tackling of complex biological problems.     

Reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography prefractionation prior to two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry identifies new differentially expressed proteins between striate cortex of kitten and adult cat

Two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis (2-D DIGE), in combination with mass spectrometry, is a highly effective method for the rapid and reproducible detection of differentially expressed proteins. This approach, however, has the unfortunate drawback that it preferentially displays rather abundantly expressed proteins. Nevertheless, comparison of the protein expression levels of the striate cortex of adult cats and 30-day-old kittens, resulted in the identification of several proteins related to postnatal brain development and possibly age-dependent plasticity as well (Van den Bergh et al., J. Neurochem. 2003, in press). The goal of the present study was the selective enrichment and identification of less abundant proteins within the same paradigm. Hereto, we performed a reversed-phase chromatography prefractionation of our tissue lysate to separate the proteins in four fractions based on their hydrophobicity prior to 2-D DIGE analysis. This approach not only confirmed the differential expression levels of a number of proteins from the previous study, but also identified three additional proteins preferentially expressed in kitten visual cortex and five additional proteins with higher expression levels in adult cat visual cortex. These spots were not visible on the total tissue lysate protein maps, indicating that the high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) prefractionation enabled us to visualize additional, less abundant proteins.     

Comparison of ethanol-soluble proteins from different rye (Secale cereale) varieties by two-dimensional electrophoresis

The major storage proteins from six rye varieties, grown under the same conditions in 1997 and 1998 in Rønhave, Denmark, were analyzed by two‐dimensional (2‐D) polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The proteins were extracted from ground rye kernels with 70% ethanol and separated by 2‐D electrophoresis. The gels were scanned, compared using ImageMaster® software and the data sets were analyzed by principal component analysis (PCA) using THE UNSCRAMBLER software. Afterwards MATLAB was used to make a cluster analysis of the varieties based on PCA. The analysis of the gels showed, that the protein patterns (number of different proteins and their isoelectric points and molecular weights) from the six rye varieties were different. Based on the presence of unique cultivar‐specific spots it was possible to differentiate between all six varieties if the two harvest years were investigated separately. When the results were combined from the two years five varieties could be differentiated. The results from the PCA confirmed the finding of the unique spots and cluster analysis was made in order to illustrate the results. The combination of the results from 2‐D electrophoresis and other grain characteristics showed that one protein spot was located close to the parameters bread volume and bread height.     

Characterization of antithrombin III from human plasma by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and capillary electrophoretic methods

The isoforms distribution of the glycoprotein antithrombin III (ATIII) derived from human plasma was investigated by means of isoelectric focusing (IEF) in polyacrylamide gels with immobilized pH gradients (IPG) and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) as well as capillary electrophoretic methods. It turned out that the presence of high concentrations of chaotropics (urea, thiourea) and zwitterionic detergents (3-[(3-cholamidepropyl)dimethylammonio]-1-propanesulfonate (CHAPS)) was decisive for attaining good resolution of the protein isoforms. Resolution by IPG-IEF was obtained with excellent reproducibility and pI differences down to 0.01 pH units could be distinguished. ATIII-alpha and ATIII-beta-fractions preseparated by heparin affinity chromatography showed an analogous but shifted spot pattern consisting each of one major and three minor isoforms. The main isoforms of ATIII-alpha and ATIII-beta exhibit pI values of 5.18 and 5.32, respectively, both values determined in the presence of high concentrations of urea. The pI difference of 0.14 pH units correspond to the effect of two sialic acids absent in ATIII-beta. The formation and occurrence of ATIII dimers and trimers turned out to be dependent on the sample preparation. The results obtained by 2-DE were compared with those of capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) and capillary IEF (CIEF). Quantitative analysis regarding the CZE separated isoforms of plasma derived ATIII yielded a content of about 70% ATIII-alpha main isoform and about 6.6% of ATIII-beta. The pI values of ATIII determined by CIEF with internal calibration were in fair agreement with the pI values of the main isoforms achieved with 2-DE.     

Comparative proteomics of human endothelial cell caveolae and rafts using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry

The human endothelial cell plasma membrane harbors two subdomains of similar lipid composition, caveolae and rafts, both crucially involved in various essential cellular processes like transcytosis, signal transduction and cholesterol homeostasis. Caveolin-enriched membranes, isolated by either cationic silica or buoyant density methods, were explored by comparing large series of two-dimensional (2-D) maps and subsequent identification of over 100 protein spots by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) peptide mass fingerprinting. Improved representation and identification of membrane proteins and valuable information on various post-translational modifications was achieved by the presented optimized procedures for solubilization, destaining and database searching/computing. Whereas the cationic silica purification yielded predominantly known endoplasmic reticulum residents, the cold-detergent method yielded a large number of known caveolae residents, including caveolin-1. Thus, a large part of this subproteome was established, including known (trans-)membrane, signal transduction and glycosyl phosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored proteins. Several predicted proteins from the human genome were isolated for the first time from biological samples, including SGRP58, SLP-2, C8ORF2, and XRP-2. These findings and various optimized procedures can serve as a reference to study the differential composition of endothelial cell caveolae and rafts, known to be involved in pathologies like cancer and cardiovascular disease.