Search

The native reference peptide (NRP) method has been adapted to the measure of the degree of protein nitration at a specific tyrosine residue. In these experiments, human serum albumin was modified in a myeloperoxidase-mediated reaction in the presence of nitrite, with nitration detected predominantly at one site, [Y.sup.162]. The time-dependent increase in nitration at this site was measured based on the increasing abundance of the peptide [sup.162][Y.sup.n]LYEIA[R.sup.168] and the corresponding decrease in the [sup.162]YLYEIA[R.sup.168] peptide in in-gel trypsin digests. The peptide [sup.66]LVNEVIEFA[K.sup.75], also formed in the tryptic digest, was used as the native reference peptide. Quantitation was achieved by determining the chromatographic peak area of the two analyte peptides relative to the native reference peptide by LC/tandem mass spectrometric analyses with selected reaction monitoring. The NRP results were validated by correlation to the time-dependent increase in total protein-nitrotyrosine content determined by Western blot analysis. The precision and limit of detection of the assay were also evaluated and were found to be approximately 10% (relative standard deviation) and 5 fmol on-column, respectively. These results demonstrate the utility of the NRP method for quantitative analyses of posttranslation modifications, in terms of broad applicability, ease of experimental design, sensitivity, and precision.

We have developed and validated a method that uses liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry to quantify site-specific protein phosphorylation. The method uses selected ion monitoring to determine the chromatographic peak areas of specific tryptic peptides from the protein of interest. The extent of phosphorylation is determined from the ratio of the phosphopeptide peak area to the peak area of an unmodified reference peptide that acts as internal standard, correcting for variations in protein amounts and peptide recovery in the digest preparation procedure. As a result, we refer to this protocol as the native reference peptide method. Mole of phosphate at the selected site per mole of protein is obtained from this ratio, using calibration curves of synthetic peptides to determine relative responses. Our method begins with protein separation by SDS-PAGE and is carried out on amounts of peptide produced by an ingel digestion of single Coomassie blue-stained bands. To illustrate the utility of the method and provide validation, we used cardiac troponin I as analyte and monitored the time course of a protein kinase C [beta]II reaction. Those analyses appropriately demonstrate the time-dependent increase of phosphorylation at a PKC-preferred site, Ser44 in the peptide [sup.41][ISAS.sup.p][R.sup.45] and the concomitant consumption of the nonphosphorylated peptide. We believe that this method provides a novel tool to directly measure specific phosphorylation sites in proteins in different physiological states and expect that the method will be adaptable not only to a variety of samples types (i.e., culture cells, tissues, etc.) but to a variety of posttranslation modifications as well.