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RNA-protein interactions mediate many intracellular processes. CLIR-MS (cross-linking of isotope-labeled RNA and tandem mass spectrometry) allows the identification of RNA-protein interaction sites at single nucleotide/amino acid resolution in a single experiment. Using isotopically labeled RNA segments for UV-light-induced cross-linking generates characteristic isotope patterns that constrain the sequence database searches, increasing spatial resolution. Whereas the use of segmentally isotopically labeled RNA is effective, it is technically involved and not applicable in some settings, e.g., in cell or tissue samples. Here we introduce an extension of the CLIR-MS workflow that uses unlabeled RNA during cross-linking and subsequently adds an isotopic label during sample preparation for MS analysis. After RNase and protease digests of a cross-linked complex, the nucleic acid part of a peptide-RNA conjugate is labeled using the enzyme T4 polynucleotide kinase and a 1:1 mixture of heavy 18 O 4 -γ-ATP and light ATP. In this simple, one-step reaction, three heavy oxygen atoms are transferred from the γ-phosphate to the 5'-end of the RNA, introducing an isotopic shift of 6.01 Da that is detectable by mass spectrometry. We applied this approach to the RNA recognition motif (RRM) of the protein FOX1 in complex with its cognate binding substrate, FOX-binding element (FBE) RNA. We also labeled a single phosphate within an RNA and unambiguously determined the cross-linking site of the FOX1-RRM binding to FBE at single residue resolution on the RNA and protein level and used differential ATP labeling for relative quantification based on isotope dilution. Data are available via ProteomeXchange with the identifier PXD024010.

We present a cross-linking/mass spectrometry workflow for performing proteome-wide cross-linking analyses within 1 week. The workflow is based on the commercially available mass spectrometry-cleavable cross-linker disuccinimidyl dibutyric urea and can be employed by every lab having access to a mass spectrometer with tandem mass spectrometry capabilities. We provide an updated version 2.0 of the freeware software tool MeroX, available at www.StavroX.com , that allows us to conduct fully automated and reliable studies delivering insights into protein-protein interaction networks and protein conformations at the proteome level. We exemplify our optimized workflow for mapping protein-protein interaction networks in Drosophila melanogaster embryos on a system-wide level. From cross-linked Drosophila embryo extracts, we detected 29931 cross-link spectrum matches corresponding to 7436 unique cross-linked residues in biological triplicate experiments at a 1% false discovery rate. Among these, 1611 interprotein cross-linking sites were identified and yielded valuable information about protein-protein interactions. The 5825 remaining intraprotein cross-links yield information about the conformational landscape of proteins in their cellular environment.

The number of publications in the field of chemical cross-linking combined with mass spectrometry (XL-MS) to derive constraints for protein three-dimensional structure modeling and to probe protein-protein interactions has increased during the last years. As the technique is now becoming routine for in vitro and in vivo applications in proteomics and structural biology there is a pressing need to define protocols as well as data analysis and reporting formats. Such consensus formats should become accepted in the field and be shown to lead to reproducible results. This first, community-based harmonization study on XL-MS is based on the results of 32 groups participating worldwide. The aim of this paper is to summarize the status quo of XL-MS and to compare and evaluate existing cross-linking strategies. Our study therefore builds the framework for establishing best practice guidelines to conduct cross-linking experiments, perform data analysis, and define reporting formats with the ultimate goal of assisting scientists to generate accurate and reproducible XL-MS results.

This study investigated the enzyme-substrate interaction between Saccharomyces cerevisiae arginine methyltransferase Hmt1p and nucleolar protein Npl3p, using chemical cross linking/mass spectrometry (XL/MS). We show that XL/MS can capture transient interprotein interactions that occur during the process of methylation, involving a disordered region in Npl3p with tandem SRGG repeats, and we confirm that Hmt1p and Npl3p exist as homomultimers. Additionally, the study investigated the interdependencies between variables of an XL/MS experiment that lead to the identification of identical or different cross-linked peptides. We report that there are substantial benefits, in terms of biologically relevant cross-links identified, that result from the use of two mass-spectrometry-cleavable cross-linkers [disuccinimido sulfoxide (DSSO) and disuccinimido dibutyric urea (DSBU)], two fragmentation approaches [collision-induced dissociation and electron-transfer dissociation (CID+ETD)] and stepped high-energy collision dissociation (HCD)], and two programs (MeroX and XlinkX). We also show that there are specific combinations of XL/MS methods that are more successful than others for the two proteins investigated here; these are explored in detail in the text. Data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD008348.

A major challenge in cross-linking/mass spectrometry (MS) is targeting carboxyl functions in proteins under physiological conditions that do not disturb the protein's conformation. Cross-linking of glutamic acid and aspartic acid residues in proteins will greatly expand the scope of structural mass spectrometry. We discovered that carboxyl-reactive cross-linkers have already been employed for many years in cross-linking/MS studies, yet in a completely different context. Diazirine-based cross-linkers, such as photomethionine and succinimidyldiazirine cross-linkers, are currently considered to react nonspecifically upon UV-A photoactivation with all 20 proteinogenic amino acids through a reactive carbene that inserts mainly into C-H bonds. We discovered that the cross-linking capability of diazirines based on X-H (X = C, N, O) insertion is in fact only the tip of the iceberg. Diazirines isomerize to linear diazo compounds that can react with carboxylic acids to yield esters. On top of that, the resulting cross-linked products are MS-cleavable allowing an automated analysis of cross-links via customized software tools. Therefore, diazirines open an entirely new route for photo-cross-linking of carboxylic acids. Previous cross-linking studies using diazirines have to be revisited in the light of these findings.

Cross-linking combined with mass spectrometry (MS) has evolved as an alternative strategy in structural biology for characterizing three-dimensional structures of protein assemblies and for mapping protein-protein interactions. Here, we describe an integrated workflow for an automated identification of cross-linked products that is based on the use of a tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) cleavable cross-linker (containing a 1,3-bis-(4-oxo-butyl)-urea group, BuUrBu) generating characteristic doublet patterns upon fragmentation. We evaluate different fragmentation methods available on an Orbitrap Fusion mass spectrometer for three proteins and an E. coli cell lysate. An updated version of the dedicated software tool MeroX was employed for a fully automated identification of cross-links. The strength of our cleavable cross-linker is that characteristic patterns of the cross-linker as well as backbone fragments of the connected peptides are already observed at the MS/MS level, eliminating the need for conducting MS(3) or sequential CID (collision-induced dissociation)- and ETD (electron transfer dissociation)-MS/MS experiments. This makes our strategy applicable to a broad range of mass spectrometers with MS/MS capabilities. For purified proteins and protein complexes, our workflow using CID-MS/MS acquisition performs with high confidence, scoring cross-links at 0.5% false discovery rate (FDR). The cross-links provide structural insights into the intrinsically disordered tetrameric tumor suppressor protein p53. As a time-consuming manual inspection of cross-linking data is not required, our workflow will pave the way for making the cross-linking/MS approach a routine technique for structural proteomics studies.