A novel quantitative proteomics workflow by isobaric terminal labeling

Chemical isotope labeling for quantitative proteomics

Advancements in liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry over the last decades have led to a significant development in mass spectrometry-based proteome quantification approaches. An increasingly attractive strategy is multiplex isotope labeling, which significantly improves the accuracy, precision and throughput of quantitative proteomics in the data-dependent acquisition mode. Isotope labeling-based approaches can be classified into MS1-based and MS2-based quantification. In this review, we give an overview of approaches based on chemical isotope labeling and discuss their principles, benefits, and limitations with the goal to give insights into fundamental questions and provide a useful reference for choosing a method for quantitative proteomics. As a perspective, we discuss the current possibilities and limitations of multiplex, isotope labeling approaches for the data-independent acquisition mode, which is increasing in popularity.

Selective Maleylation-Directed Isobaric Peptide Termini Labeling for Accurate Proteome Quantification

Isobaric peptide termini labeling (IPTL) is an attractive protein quantification method because it provides more accurate and reliable quantification information than traditional isobaric labeling methods (e.g., TMT and iTRAQ) by making use of the entire fragment-ion series instead of only a single reporter ion. The multiplexing capacity of published IPTL implementations is, however, limited to three. Here, we present a selective maleylation-directed isobaric peptide termini labeling (SMD-IPTL) approach for quantitative proteomics of LysC protein digestion. SMD-IPTL extends the multiplexing capacity to 4-plex with the potential for higher levels of multiplexing using commercially available ¹³C/¹⁵N labeled amino acids. SMD-IPTL is achieved in a one-pot reaction in three consecutive steps: (1) selective maleylation at the N-terminus; (2) labeling at the ε-NH₂ group of the C-terminal Lys with isotopically labeled acetyl-alanine; (3) thiol Michael addition of an isotopically labeled acetyl-cysteine at the maleylated N-terminus. The isobarically labeled peptides are fragmented into sets of b- and y-ion clusters upon LC-MS/MS, which convey not only sequence information but also quantitative information for every labeling channel and avoid the issue of ratio distortion observed with reporter-ion-based approaches. We demonstrate the SMD-IPTL approach with a 4-plex labeled sample of bovine serum albumin (BSA) and yeast lysates mixed at different ratios. With the use of SMD-IPTL for labeling and a narrow precursor isolation window of 0.8 Th with an offset of −0.2 Th, accurate ratios were measured across a 10-fold mixing range of BSA in a background of yeast proteome. With the yeast proteins mixed at ratios of 1:5:1:5, BSA was detected at ratios of 0.94:2.46:4.70:9.92 when spiked at 1:2:5:10 ratios with an average standard deviation of peptide ratios of 0.34.

A Ubiquitous but Overlooked Side Reaction in Dimethyl Labeling of Peptides

Reductive dimethylation using formaldehyde and NaBH₃CN to label peptides or proteins on their N-termini and lysine residues is one of the most widely used labeling methods in the quantitative proteomics field. In this study, we characterized a ubiquitous side reaction in dimethylation labeling, causing mass increments of 26 Da on the N-termini of peptides. It can occur extensively on most peptides, which significantly compromises data quality in terms of sensitivity, dynamic range, and peptide- and protein-identification rates. Nevertheless, this side reaction was so-far overlooked, largely because the current database search algorithms limited the detection of unknown modifications. In order to illustrate the chemical nature of this side reaction, 1D and 2D nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) was performed to elucidate the exact structure of the modification formed through this side reaction, revealing that the side reaction produced an N-methyl-4-imidazolidinone moiety between the first two residues of the undesirably labeled peptides. On the basis of the mechanism proposed for the side reaction, we optimized the reaction conditions for dimethyl-labeling. Compared with the current typical labeling method, our approach can dramatically suppress the side reactions at both the standard protein and proteome levels. As a result, with our optimal labeling method, peptide- and protein-identification rates were significantly increased compared with those from the traditional labeling method.

HST-MRM-MS: A Novel High-Sample-Throughput Multiple Reaction Monitoring Mass Spectrometric Method for Multiplex Absolute Quantitation of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Serum Biomarker

Absolute quantification of clinical biomarkers by mass spectrometry (MS) has been challenged due to low sample-throughput of current multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) methods. For this problem to be overcome, in this work, a novel high-sample-throughput multiple reaction monitoring mass spectrometric (HST-MRM-MS) quantification approach is developed to achieve simultaneous quantification of 24 samples. Briefly, triplex dimethyl reagents (L, M, and H) and eight-plex iTRAQ reagents were used to label the N- and C-termini of the Lys C-digested peptides, respectively. The triplex dimethyl labeling produces three coelute peaks in MRM traces, and the iTRAQ labeling produces eight peaks in MS2, resulting in 24 (3×8) channels in a single experiment. HST-MRM-MS has shown good accuracy ( R² > 0.98 for absolute quantification), reproducibility (RSD < 15%), and linearity (2-3 orders of magnitude). Moreover, the novel method has been successfully applied in quantifying serum biomarkers in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)-related serum samples. In conclusion, HST-MRM-MS is an accurate, high-sample-throughput, and broadly applicable MS-based absolute quantification method.

A novel triplex isobaric termini labeling quantitative approach for simultaneously supplying three quantitative sources

Benefiting from high sensitivity and great ability to measure multiple samples simultaneously, isobaric tandem Mass spectrometry (MS2) quantification has been widely applied for protein biomarker screening. Here, a newly developed isobaric MS2 quantification method named triplex quantification by isobaric termini labeling (Triplex-QITL) was established. This method enables the accurate comparison of various fragment ions (reporter ions, amino acid fragments and N-/C-terminal fragments) based quantification to be operated in a single run. To our knowledge, this is the first time that this kind of comparison is achieved. In Triplex-QITL, proteins were first digested with Lys-C to produce peptides with lysine (K) at the C-termini, then dimethylation reagents and mTRAQ reagents were used to label the N-termini and C-termini of the peptides respectively. N- and C-terminal fragment ion pairs, reporter ions from mTRAQ (113,117,121) and a₁ ion pairs were simultaneously generated in MS2 spectra. In simple sample experiment, not much difference in using various fragment ions for quantification was observed. When analyzing SW480 cell lysate, comparing with a1 ions, about two times of reproducible quantification results were achieved by reporter ions and N- and C-terminal ions. Meanwhile the measured quantification results were much closer to the expected results even in large ratios (1:10:10) using N- and C-terminal ions. Finally, Triplex-QITL was successfully applied to profile metastatic differences of three hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell lines. In all, Triplex-QITL shows a promising future in quantitative proteomics.

diDO-IPTL: A Peptide-Labeling Strategy for Precision Quantitative Proteomics

We present an analytical strategy, dimethylation-deuteration and oxygen-exchange IPTL (diDO-IPTL), for high-precision, broad-coverage quantitative proteomics. The diDO-IPTL approach combines two advances in isobaric peptide terminal labeling (IPTL) methodology: first, a one-pot chemical labeling strategy for attaching isotopic tags to both the N- and C-termini of tryptic peptides, and second, a search engine (based on the Morpheus algorithm) optimized for identification and quantification of twinned peaks from peptide fragment ions in MS² spectra. The diDO-IPTL labeling chemistry uses only high-purity, relatively inexpensive isotopic reagents (¹⁸O water and deuterated formaldehyde) and requires no postlabeling cleanup or isotopic impurity corrections. This strategy produces proteome-scale relative quantification results with high accuracy and precision, suitable for the detection of small protein abundance variations between complex biological samples. In a two-proteome mixture experiment, diDO-IPTL quantification discriminates 1.5-fold changes in abundance of over 1000 proteins with 88% accuracy. The diDO-IPTL methodology is a high-precision, economical approach to quantitative proteomics that is applicable to a wide variety of sample types.

Intact Protein Quantitation Using Pseudoisobaric Dimethyl Labeling

Protein structural and functional studies rely on complete qualitative and quantitative information on protein species (proteoforms); thus, it is important to quantify differentially expressed proteins at their molecular level. Here we report our development of universal pseudoisobaric dimethyl labeling (pIDL) of amino groups at both the N-terminal and lysine residues for relative quantitation of intact proteins. Initial proof-of-principle study was conducted on standard protein myoglobin and hepatocellular proteomes (HepG2 vs LO2). The amino groups from both the N-terminal and lysine were dimethylated with HXHO (X = (13)C or C) and NaBY3CN (Y = H or D). At the standard protein level, labeling efficiency, effect of product ion size, and mass resolution on quantitation accuracy were explored; and a good linear quantitation dynamic range up to 50-fold was obtained. For the hepatocellular proteome samples, 33 proteins were quantified with RSD ≤ 10% from one-dimensional reversed phase liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (RPLC-MS/MS) analysis of the 1:1 mixed samples. The method in this study can be extended to quantitation of other intact proteome systems. The universal "one-pot" dimethyl labeling of all the amino groups in a protein without the need of preblocking of those on the lysine residues is made possible by protein identification and quantitation analysis using ProteinGoggle 2.0 with customized databases of both precursor and product ions containing heavy isotopes.

Integrated platform with a combination of online digestion and (18)O labeling for proteome quantification via an immobilized trypsin microreactor

A novel automated integrated platform for quantitative proteome analysis was established with a combination of online digestion of proteins and in situ(18)O labeling by an immobilized enzyme reactor (IMER); digests were captured and desalted by a C18 trap column, and peptides were analyzed by nanoRPLC-ESI-MS/MS. Bovine serum albumin (BSA) was used to evaluate the performance of the developed platform. Compared with traditional offline methods, not only the digestion and labeling time was shortened from 36 h to just 1 h, but also the labeling efficiency was improved from 95% to 99%. Furthermore, the back-exchange from (18)O to (16)O could also be efficiently avoided by the use of IMER. The platform was further evaluated by the quantitative analysis of 100 ng (18)O and (16)O online labeled yeast sample with a mixing ratio of 1 : 1, and the results showed significantly improved sensitivity and reproducibility, as well as improved quantitative accuracy than offline method. With these advantages, the integrated platform was finally applied to the quantitative profiling of 100 ng proteins extracted from two mouse hepatocarcinoma ascites syngeneic cell lines with high and low lymph node metastases rates, and ten differentially expressed proteins were successfully found, most of which were related to tumorigenesis and tumor metastasis. All these results demonstrate that the developed integrated platform can provide a new way for high efficiency (18)O labeling and the quantitative analysis of trace amounts of sample with high accuracy and high reproducibility.

Pseudo isobaric peptide termini labelling for relative proteome quantification by SWATH MS acquisition

The SWATH-pseudo-IPTL method is a promising strategy in quantitative proteomics, and has been efficiently applied in biological studies due to its high quantitative accuracy.

ITMSQ: A software tool for N- and C-terminal fragment ion pairs based isobaric tandem mass spectrometry quantification

Tandem MS (MS2) quantification using the series of N- and C-terminal fragment ion pairs generated from isobaric-labelled peptides was recently considered an accurate strategy in quantitative proteomics. However, the presence of multiplexed terminal fragment ion in MS2 spectra may reduce the efficiency of peptide identification, resulting in lower identification scores or even incorrect assignments. To address this issue, we developed a quantitative software tool, denoted isobaric tandem MS quantification (ITMSQ), to improve N- and C-terminal fragment ion pairs based isobaric MS2 quantification. A spectrum splitting module was designed to separate the MS2 spectra from different samples, increasing the accuracy of both identification and quantification. ITMSQ offers a convenient interface through which parameters can be changed along with the labelling method, and the result files and all of the intermediate files can be exported. We performed an analysis of in vivo terminal amino acid labelling labelled HeLa samples and found that the numbers of quantified proteins and peptides increased by 13.64 and 27.52% after spectrum splitting, respectively. In conclusion, ITMSQ provides an accurate and reliable quantitative solution for N- and C-terminal fragment ion pairs based isobaric MS2 quantitative methods.

A paired ions scoring algorithm based on Morpheus for simultaneous identification and quantification of proteome samples prepared by isobaric peptide termini labeling strategies

The isobaric peptide termini labeling (IPTL) method is a promising strategy in quantitative proteomics for its high accuracy, while the increased complexity of MS2 spectra originated from the paired b, y ions has adverse effect on the identification and the coverage of quantification. Here, a paired ions scoring algorithm (PISA) based on Morpheus, a database searching algorithm specifically designed for high-resolution MS2 spectra, was proposed to address this issue. PISA was first tested on two 1:1 mixed IPTL datasets, and increases in peptide to spectrum matchings, distinct peptides and protein groups compared to Morpheus itself and MASCOT were shown. Furthermore, the quantification is simultaneously performed and 100% quantification coverage is achieved by PISA since each of the identified peptide to spectrum matchings has several pairs of fragment ions which could be used for quantification. Then the PISA was applied to the relative quantification of human hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines with high and low metastatic potentials prepared by an IPTL strategy.

Recent advances in stable isotope labeling based techniques for proteome relative quantification

The large scale relative quantification of all proteins expressed in biological samples under different states is of great importance for discovering proteins with important biological functions, as well as screening disease related biomarkers and drug targets. Therefore, the accurate quantification of proteins at proteome level has become one of the key issues in protein science. Herein, the recent advances in stable isotope labeling based techniques for proteome relative quantification were reviewed, from the aspects of metabolic labeling, chemical labeling and enzyme-catalyzed labeling. Furthermore, the future research direction in this field was prospected.

Global in vivo terminal amino acid labeling for exploring differential expressed proteins induced by dialyzed serum cultivation

An accurate and high throughput isobaric MS2 quantification strategy based on metabolic labeling and trypsin digestion.

Mass defect-based pseudo-isobaric dimethyl labeling for proteome quantification

Discovering differentially expressed proteins in various biological samples requires proteome quantification methods with accuracy, precision, and wide dynamic range. This study describes a mass defect-based pseudo-isobaric dimethyl labeling (pIDL) method based on the subtle mass defect differences between (12)C/(13)C and (1)H/(2)H. Lys-C protein digests were labeled with CD2O/(13)CD2O and reduced with NaCNBD3/NaCNBH3 as heavy and light isotopologues, respectively. The fragment ion pairs with mass differences of 5.84 mDa were resolved by high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) and used for quantification. The pIDL method described here resulted in highly accurate and precise quantification results with approximately 100-fold dynamic range. Furthermore, the pIDL method was extended to 4-plex proteome quantification and applied to the quantitative analysis of proteomes from Hca-P and Hca-F, two mouse hepatocarcinoma ascites syngeneic cell lines with low and high lymph node metastasis rates.

Guanidination of tryptic peptides without desalting for matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time-of-flight mass spectrometry analysis

Derivatizations that enhance mass spectral quality often require desalting, which presents as a bottleneck in matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS)-proteomics. Guanidination, which converts lysine to homoarginine, an arginine analogue, can increase detection of those peptides 5-15-fold. Our aim was to improve guanidination by using a novel reagent, O-methylisourea-freebase. In a simple reaction, interfering salts were removed prior to guanidination. Freebase preparation took about 30 min and could be applied to samples all at once as opposed to desalting samples one-by-one for 5 min each. For freebase guanidinated BSA tryptic peptides, more than 6-times the peptides were observed relative to tryptic peptides or those guanidinated with the conventional reagent, O-methylisourea hemisulfate. Peptide signals increased more than 10-fold relative to those from guanidination with the conventional reagent and were equivalent to those from conventional guanidination with desalting. In addition, freebase guanidination allowed for a lower limit of detection when combined with another derivatization, N-terminal sulfonation, as evidenced by tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) fragmentation analysis of in-gel digests of cytochrome c. Freebase guanidination of rat lung proteins after 2-D gel electrophoresis allowed for identification of all tested protein spots regardless of protein characteristics (MW or pI) or abundance. Co-derivatization with N-terminal sulfonation confirmed the identity of low-abundance proteins in 2-D gel spots that contained more than one protein. The freebase guanidination reagent is simple to prepare and to implement. Desalting is not needed prior to MALDI-TOF MS. Freebase guanidination effectively increases the dynamic range of detection of lysine-containing peptides while decreasing the work needed for sample preparation.

A multi-scale strategy for discovery of novel endogenous neuropeptides in the crustacean nervous system

The conventional mass spectrometry (MS)-based strategy is often inadequate for the comprehensive characterization of various size neuropeptides without the assistance of genomic information. This study evaluated sequence coverage of different size neuropeptides in two crustacean species, blue crab Callinectes sapidus and Jonah crab Cancer borealis using conventional MS methodologies and revealed limitations to mid- and large-size peptide analysis. Herein we attempt to establish a multi-scale strategy for simultaneous and confident sequence elucidation of various sizes of peptides in the crustacean nervous system. Nine novel neuropeptides spanning a wide range of molecular weights (0.9-8.2kDa) were fully sequenced from a major neuroendocrine organ, the sinus gland of the spiny lobster Panulirus interruptus. These novel neuropeptides included seven allatostatin (A- and B-type) peptides, one crustacean hyperglycemic hormone precursor-related peptide, and one crustacean hyperglycemic hormone. Highly accurate multi-scale characterization of a collection of varied size neuropeptides was achieved by integrating traditional data-dependent tandem MS, improved bottom-up sequencing, multiple fragmentation technique-enabled top-down sequencing, chemical derivatization, and in silico homology search. Collectively, the ability to characterize a neuropeptidome with vastly differing molecule sizes from a neural tissue extract could find great utility in unraveling complex signaling peptide mixtures employed by other biological systems.

BIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE

Mass spectrometry (MS)-based neuropeptidomics aims to completely characterize the neuropeptides in a target organism as an important first step toward a better understanding of the structure and function of these complex signaling molecules. Although liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) with data-dependent acquisition is a powerful tool in peptidomic research, it often lacks the capability for de novo sequencing of mid-size and large peptides due to inefficient fragmentation of peptides larger than 4kDa. This study describes a multi-scale strategy for complete and confident sequence elucidation of various sizes of neuropeptides in the crustacean nervous system. The aim is to fill a technical gap where the conventional strategy is inefficient for comprehensive characterization of a complex neuropeptidome without assistance of genomic information. Nine novel neuropeptides in a wide range of molecular weights (0.9-8.2kDa) were fully sequenced from a major neuroendocrine organ of the spiny lobster, P. interruptus. The resulting molecular information extracted from such multi-scale peptidomic analysis will greatly accelerate functional studies of these novel neuropeptides.

The HUPO proteomics standards initiative- mass spectrometry controlled vocabulary

Controlled vocabularies (CVs), i.e. a collection of predefined terms describing a modeling domain, used for the semantic annotation of data, and ontologies are used in structured data formats and databases to avoid inconsistencies in annotation, to have a unique (and preferably short) accession number and to give researchers and computer algorithms the possibility for more expressive semantic annotation of data. The Human Proteome Organization (HUPO)–Proteomics Standards Initiative (PSI) makes extensive use of ontologies/CVs in their data formats. The PSI-Mass Spectrometry (MS) CV contains all the terms used in the PSI MS–related data standards. The CV contains a logical hierarchical structure to ensure ease of maintenance and the development of software that makes use of complex semantics. The CV contains terms required for a complete description of an MS analysis pipeline used in proteomics, including sample labeling, digestion enzymes, instrumentation parts and parameters, software used for identification and quantification of peptides/proteins and the parameters and scores used to determine their significance. Owing to the range of topics covered by the CV, collaborative development across several PSI working groups, including proteomics research groups, instrument manufacturers and software vendors, was necessary. In this article, we describe the overall structure of the CV, the process by which it has been developed and is maintained and the dependencies on other ontologies.

Database URL: http://psidev.cvs.sourceforge.net/viewvc/psidev/psi/psi-ms/mzML/controlledVocabulary/psi-ms.obo