title: Mining proteomic data to expose protein modifications in Methanosarcina mazei strain Gö1.
abstract: Proteomic tools identify constituents of complex mixtures, often delivering long lists of identified proteins. The high-throughput methods excel at matching tandem mass spectrometry data to spectra predicted from sequence databases. Unassigned mass spectra are ignored, but could, in principle, provide valuable information on unanticipated modifications and improve protein annotations while consuming limited quantities of material. Strategies to "mine" information from these discards are presented, along with discussion of features that, when present, provide strong support for modifications. In this study we mined LC-MS/MS datasets of proteolytically-digested concanavalin A pull down fractions from Methanosarcina mazei Gö1 cell lysates. Analyses identified 154 proteins. Many of the observed proteins displayed post-translationally modified forms, including O-formylated and methyl-esterified segments that appear biologically relevant (i.e., not artifacts of sample handling). Interesting cleavages and modifications (e.g., S-cyanylation and trimethylation) were observed near catalytic sites of methanogenesis enzymes. Of 31 Methanosarcina protein N-termini recovered by concanavalin A binding or from a previous study, only M. mazei S-layer protein MM1976 and its M. acetivorans C2A orthologue, MA0829, underwent signal peptide excision. Experimental results contrast with predictions from algorithms SignalP 3.0 and Exprot, which were found to over-predict the presence of signal peptides. Proteins MM0002, MM0716, MM1364, and MM1976 were found to be glycosylated, and employing chromatography tailored specifically for glycopeptides will likely reveal more. This study supplements limited, existing experimental datasets of mature archaeal N-termini, including presence or absence of signal peptides, translation initiation sites, and other processing. Methanosarcina surface and membrane proteins are richly modified.
authors: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors: Deborah R
authors: DR
authors: Leon
authors: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors: A Jimmy
authors: AJ
authors: Ytterberg
authors: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors: Pinmanee
authors: P
authors: Boontheung
authors: Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors: Unmi
authors: U
authors: Kim
authors: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA, USA ; Department of Biological Chemistry, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA, USA ; UCLA-DOE Institute for Genomics and Proteomics, University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors: Joseph A
authors: JA
authors: Loo
authors: Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA, USA ; UCLA-DOE Institute for Genomics and Proteomics, University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors: Robert P
authors: RP
authors: Gunsalus
authors: Department of Biological Chemistry, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA, USA ; UCLA-DOE Institute for Genomics and Proteomics, University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors: Rachel R
authors: RR
authors: Ogorzalek Loo
keywords: Methanosarcina mazei; S-layers; archaeal surface proteins; concanavalin A; membrane proteins; prokaryotic glycosylation