Phosphopeptide quantitation using amine-reactive isobaric tagging reagents and tandem mass spectrometry: application to proteins isolated by gel electrophoresis.

Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis is widely used for protein separation and it is frequently the final step in protein purification in biochemistry and proteomics. Using a commercially available amine-reactive isobaric tagging reagent (iTRAQ) and mass spectrometry we obtained reproducible, quantitative data from peptides derived by tryptic in-gel digestion of proteins and phosphoproteins. The protocol combines optimized reaction conditions, miniaturized peptide handling techniques and tandem mass spectrometry to quantify low- to sub-picomole amounts of (phospho)proteins that were isolated by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Immobilized metal affinity chromatography (FeIII-IMAC) was efficient for removal of excess reagents and for enrichment of derivatized phosphopeptides prior to matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) analysis. Phosphopeptide abundance was determined by liquid chromatography/tandem mass (LC/MS/MS) using either MALDI time-of-flight/time-of-flight (TOF/TOF) MS/MS or electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight (ESI-QTOF) MS/MS instruments. Chemically labeled isobaric phosphopeptides, differing only by the position of the phosphate group, were distinguished and characterized by LC/MS/MS based on their LC elution profile and distinct MS/MS spectra. We expect this quantitative mass spectrometry method to be suitable for systematic, comparative analysis of molecular variants of proteins isolated by gel electrophoresis

Genetic and proteomic evidences support the localization of yeast enolase in the cell surface.

Although enolase, other glycolytic enzymes, and a variety of cytoplasmic proteins lacking an N-terminal secretion signal have been widely described as located at the cell surface in yeast and in mammalian cells, their presence in this external location is still controversial. Here, we report that different experimental approaches (genetics, cellular biology and proteomics) show that yeast enolase can reach the cell surface and describe the protein regions involved in its cell surface targeting. Hybrid enolase truncates, fused at their C terminus with the yeast internal invertase or green fluorescent protein (GFP) as reporter proteins, proved that the 169 N-terminal amino acids are sufficient to target the protein to the cell surface. Furthermore, the enolase-GFP fusion co-localized with a plasma membrane marker. Enolase was also identified among membrane proteins obtained by a purification protocol that includes sodium carbonate to prevent cytoplasmic contamination. These proteins were analyzed by SDS-PAGE, trypsin digestion and LC-MS/MS for peptide identification. Elongation factors, mitochondrial membrane proteins and a mannosyltransferase involved in cell wall mannan biosynthesis were also identified in this fraction