Standard flow liquid chromatography for shotgun proteomics in bioenergy research

Over the past 10 years, the bioenergy field has realized significant achievements that have encouraged many follow on efforts centered on biosynthetic production of fuel-like compounds. Key to the success of these efforts has been transformational developments in feedstock characterization and metabolic engineering of biofuel-producing microbes. Lagging far behind these advancements are analytical methods to characterize and quantify systems of interest to the bioenergy field. In particular, the utilization of proteomics, while valuable for identifying novel enzymes and diagnosing problems associated with biofuel-producing microbes, is limited by a lack of robustness and limited throughput. Nano-flow liquid chromatography coupled to high-mass accuracy, high-resolution mass spectrometers has become the dominant approach for the analysis of complex proteomic samples, yet such assays still require dedicated experts for data acquisition, analysis, and instrument upkeep. The recent adoption of standard flow chromatography (ca. 0.5 mL/min) for targeted proteomics has highlighted the robust nature and increased throughput of this approach for sample analysis. Consequently, we assessed the applicability of standard flow liquid chromatography for shotgun proteomics using samples from Escherichia coli and Arabidopsis thaliana, organisms commonly used as model systems for lignocellulosic biofuels research. Employing 120 min gradients with standard flow chromatography, we were able to routinely identify nearly 800 proteins from E. coli samples; while for samples from Arabidopsis, over 1,000 proteins could be reliably identified. An examination of identified peptides indicated that the method was suitable for reproducible applications in shotgun proteomics. Standard flow liquid chromatography for shotgun proteomics provides a robust approach for the analysis of complex samples. To the best of our knowledge, this study represents the first attempt to validate the standard flow approach for shotgun proteomics

Glycome and Proteome Components of Golgi Membranes Are Common between Two Angiosperms with Distinct Cell-Wall Structures

The plant endoplasmic reticulum-Golgi apparatus is the site of synthesis, assembly, and trafficking of all noncellulosic polysaccharides, proteoglycans, and proteins destined for the cell wall. As grass species make cell walls distinct from those of dicots and noncommelinid monocots, it has been assumed that the differences in cell-wall composition stem from differences in biosynthetic capacities of their respective Golgi. However, immunosorbence-based screens and carbohydrate linkage analysis of polysaccharides in Golgi membranes, enriched by flotation centrifugation from etiolated coleoptiles of maize (Zea mays) and leaves of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), showed that arabinogalactan-proteins and arabinans represent substantial portions of the Golgi-resident polysaccharides not typically found in high abundance in cell walls of either species. Further, hemicelluloses accumulated in Golgi at levels that contrasted with those found in their respective cell walls, with xyloglucans enriched in maize Golgi, and xylans enriched in Arabidopsis. Consistent with this finding, maize Golgi membranes isolated by flotation centrifugation and enriched further by free-flow electrophoresis, yielded >200 proteins known to function in the biosynthesis and metabolism of cell-wall polysaccharides common to all angiosperms, and not just those specific to cell-wall type. We propose that the distinctive compositions of grass primary cell walls compared with other angiosperms result from differential gating or metabolism of secreted polysaccharides post-Golgi by an as-yet unknown mechanism, and not necessarily by differential expression of genes encoding specific synthase complexes