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Cross-linking mass spectrometry (XL-MS) is an emergent technology for studying protein-protein interactions (PPIs) and elucidating architectures of protein complexes. The development of various MS-cleavable cross-linkers has facilitated the identification of cross-linked peptides, enabling XL-MS studies at the systems level. However, the scope and depth of cellular networks revealed by current XL-MS technologies remain limited. Due to the inherently broad dynamic range and complexity of proteomes, interference from highly abundant proteins impedes the identification of low abundance cross-linked peptides in complex samples. Thus, peptide enrichment prior to MS analysis is necessary to enhance cross-link identification for proteome-wide studies. Although chromatographic techniques including size exclusion (SEC) and strong cation exchange (SCX) have been successful in isolating cross-linked peptides, new fractionation methods are still needed to further improve the depth of PPI mapping. Here, we present a two-dimensional (2D) separation strategy by integrating peptide SEC with tip-based high pH reverse-phase (HpHt) fractionation to expand the coverage of proteome-wide XL-MS analyses. Combined with the MS-cleavable cross-linker DSSO, we have successfully mapped in vitro PPIs from HEK 293 cell lysates with improved identification of cross-linked peptides compared to existing approaches. The method developed here is effective and can be generalized for cross-linking studies of complex samples.

The development of MS-cleavable cross-linking mass spectrometry (XL-MS) has enabled the effective capture and identification of endogenous protein-protein interactions (PPIs) and their residue contacts at the global scale without cell engineering. So far, only lysine-reactive cross-linkers have been successfully applied for proteome-wide PPI profiling. However, lysine cross-linkers alone cannot uncover the complete PPI map in cells. Previously, we have developed a maleimide-based cysteine-reactive MS-cleavable cross-linker (bismaleimide sulfoxide (BMSO)) that is effective for mapping PPIs of protein complexes to yield interaction contacts complementary to lysine-reactive reagents. While successful, the hydrolysis and limited selectivity of maleimides at physiological pH make their applications in proteome-wide XL-MS challenging. To enable global PPI mapping, we have explored an alternative cysteine-labeling chemistry and thus designed and synthesized a sulfoxide-containing MS-cleavable haloacetamide-based cross-linker, Dibromoacetamide sulfoxide (DBrASO). Our results have demonstrated that DBrASO cross-linked peptides display the same fragmentation characteristics as other sulfoxide-containing MS-cleavable cross-linkers, permitting their unambiguous identification by MSn. In combination with a newly developed two-dimensional peptide fractionation method, we have successfully performed DBrASO-based XL-MS analysis of HEK293 cell lysates and demonstrated its capability to complement lysine-reactive reagents and expand PPI coverage at the systems-level.

Proteasome inhibitors are widely used as therapeutics and research tools, and typically target one of the three active sites, each present twice in the proteasome complex. An endogeneous proteasome inhibitor, PI31, was identified 30 years ago, but its inhibitory mechanism has remained unclear. Here, we identify the mechanism of Saccharomyces cerevisiae PI31, also known as Fub1. Using cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), we show that the conserved carboxy-terminal domain of Fub1 is present inside the proteasome's barrel-shaped core particle (CP), where it simultaneously interacts with all six active sites. Targeted mutations of Fub1 disrupt proteasome inhibition at one active site, while leaving the other sites unaffected. Fub1 itself evades degradation through distinct mechanisms at each active site. The gate that allows substrates to access the CP is constitutively closed, and Fub1 is enriched in mutant CPs with an abnormally open gate, suggesting that Fub1 may function to neutralize aberrant proteasomes, thereby ensuring the fidelity of proteasome-mediated protein degradation.

Exosomes are cell-derived, phospholipid bilayer-enclosed vesicles that play important roles in intercellular interactions and regulate many biological processes. Accumulating evidence suggests that serum exosomes are potential biomarkers for the early diagnosis of cancer. To aid the downstream molecular analyses of tumour-secreted exosomes, purified exosomes are highly desirable. However, current techniques for exosome isolation are time-consuming and highly instrument-dependent, with limited specificity and recovery. Thus, rapid and efficient methods are strongly needed for both basic research and clinical applications. Here, we present a novel strategy for facile exosome isolation from human serum by taking advantage of the specific interaction of TiO2 with the phosphate groups on the lipid bilayer of exosomes. Due to their simplicity and highly affinitive binding, model exosomes can be reversibly isolated with a high recovery (93.4%). Downstream characterization and proteome profiling reveal that high-quality exosomes can be obtained from human serum by this TiO2-based isolation method in 5 min, which is a fraction of the time required for the commonly used ultracentrifugation method. We identified 59 significantly up-regulated proteins by comparing the serum exosomes of pancreatic cancer patients and healthy donors. In addition to the 30 proteins that were reported to be closely related to pancreatic cancer, we found an additional 29 proteins that had not previously been shown to be related to pancreatic cancer, indicating the potential of this novel method as a powerful tool for exosome isolation for health monitoring and disease diagnosis.

In “bottom-up” proteomics, proteins are first digested into peptides and then characterized by chromatographic separation and mass spectrometry analysis, in which proteolysis has an appreciable influence on the repeatability and reliability of analytical results. To improve recovery and enzymatic efficiency, proteins are often denatured and solubilized with chemical agents such as sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS), urea (UA), etc. However, surfactant like SDS is difficult to remove from the reacting system and may interfere with protease activity, chromatographic separation of peptides and mass spectrometry analysis. To this end, we have prepared an immobilized surfactant which can preserve the solubilization and denaturation abilities of a surfactant and has the advantage of being easily separated from samples. The denaturation and solubilization capabilities of the newly developed immobilized surfactant were evaluated by comparing the enzymatic hydrolysis efficiencies in the pretreatment of protein samples treated with immobilized surfactant and other common methods. The results showed that the average protein sequence coverage was 42.1% (digested for 1 h), which was 76.89% higher than that of a control experiment (23.8%) in the digestion of a standard protein (BSA) and reached the same denaturation ability as that of heating at 95 °C. Moreover, the immobilized surfactant was further tested in the extraction and digestion of the total protein of HeLa cells. The number of identified proteins resulted in similar levels to those exploited with 0.1% SDS and 8 M UA, both of which are frequently used in lysis buffer, indicating that the immobilized surfactant had a good ability to denature and solubilize proteins. In brief, the immobilized surfactant avoids the shortcomings of UA and SDS and can be utilized in the pretreatment of complex biological samples.

With the increasing depth of proteomic identification, quantitative accuracy and increasing analytical speed, new challenges are being encountered in the development of proteomics methods. Traditional proteomics methods are time-consuming and have low sensitivity and poor accuracy; hence, they do not satisfy the new demands in proteomics research. Preparation of novel materials with specific functions via chemical and biochemical routes or by methods based on electricity, magnetism, heat, and photoirradiation is the key to overcome the limitations of traditional analytical techniques and promote active research in the field of proteomics. This paper reviews the recent advances in the application of functional materials in proteomics researches.

Exosomes are vesicles secreted by many types of cells through exocytosis, and their sizes range from 30 to 200 nm. Exosomes consist of a lipid bilayer membrane, containing a number of bioactive molecules, e. g., proteins, ribose nucleic acid (RNA), and deoxyribo nucleic acid (DNA) derived from the cell of origin. As intercellular communication carriers, exosomes participate in many physiological and pathological processes. Because of the complexity of body fluids, as well as the small size and low density of exosomes, the isolation of exosomes is an essential and challenging step before subsequent analysis and functional studies. This review summarizes the advances in the analytical approaches, characterization methods, biological functions and clinical applications of exosomes, with particular emphasis on exosomes isolation techniques.

Tryptic digestion before identification and quantification by mass spectrometry is an indispensable process for most proteomics studies. Conventional in-solution digestion process always suffers from incomplete digestion and is time-consuming and expensive. Development of a novel proteolytic digestion method with fast, high efficiency and reusability of the enzyme is still an urgent task. In this study, new hollow silica bubbles-based immobilized trypsin (trypsin@SiB) was developed via brushes structured glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) grafted on the silica bubbles (SiB) by the reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer polymerization (RAFT) technique followed by trypsin's immobilization on the microsphere. The new immobilized trypsin not only showed high efficiency and stability but also reusability. Due to the low density (0.6 g cm−3) of SiB, it can float over the solution for several minutes so that the immobilized trypsin can be separated and recovered from the system easily. Highly efficient digestion of BSA was achieved with this trypsin@SiB within 1 min and the obtained sequence coverage (92%) was better than that from conventional in-solution digestion for more than 12 h (76%). To further confirm the efficiency of trypsin@SiB for complex proteomic analysis, the protein extracted from human urine was analyzed as a real sample. Within 10 min digestion, 510 protein groups were identified with the LC-MS/MS analysis and database searching, whereas the number of identified proteins after 12 h in-solution digestion was 493 with the same identification conditions. The successful application of trypsin@SiB demonstrated its potential as a high efficient digestion method for future proteomics analysis.

Phosphopeptide enrichment is critical for the deep analysis of the phosphoproteome, and many strategies have been developed to improve the coverage of identified phosphopeptides. However, the isolation of multiple phosphorylated peptides is still limited due to their distinct affinity capability to various materials. For example, titanium dioxide is preferred to isolate mono-phosphopeptides owing to its very strong binding of multiple phosphorylated peptides. Here, a new set of different metal ion (Ti4+, Zr4+, Fe3+, Tb3+, Tm3+, Ho3+)-immobilized magnetic nanoparticles, Fe3O4@TCPP-DOTA-Ms, were prepared, which possess the advantages of a stable metal complex, a large binding capacity and easy manual operation by introducing TCPP (tetrakis(4-carboxylphenyl) porphyrin), DOTA (1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane N,N′,N′′,N′′′-tetraacetic acid) and various metal ions onto the magnetic nanoparticles. For the model protein α-casein tryptic digest, 15 phosphopeptides were identified with Fe3O4@TCPP-DOTA-Tb or Ti, and 46.67% of the enriched phosphopeptides were multiple phosphorylated peptides, indicating that the metal ion Tb3+ and Ti4+-immobilized materials have excellent enrichment efficiency and stronger adsorption for multiple phosphorylated peptides than other metal ion immobilized magnetic nanoparticles. Even in the tryptic digest of α-casein and BSA (1 : 50), 14–15 phosphopeptides were easily detected with Fe3O4@TCPP-DOTA-Tb/Ti, revealing that the novel materials possess strong selectivity for phosphopeptide enrichment. Additionally, Fe3O4@TCPP-DOTA-Tb/Ti was utilized to capture phosphopeptides in the tryptic digest of an extract of HeLa cells. In total, 13 450 phosphopeptides corresponding to 2965 phosphoproteins were identified in mass spectrometric analyses. The specificity for phosphopeptide enrichment was as high as 94%. More than half of the identified unique phosphopeptides were multiple phosphorylated peptides, which was much higher than that identified by the DHB/TiO2 (13.39%) method, making these materials a good choice for highly selective and global phosphopeptide enrichment in phosphoproteome analysis.

Exosomes can be efficiently isolated in a short period of time by the specific interaction of titanium dioxide with the phosphate groups on the surface of phospholipid bilayer., Exosomes are cell-derived, phospholipid bilayer-enclosed vesicles that play important roles in intercellular interactions and regulate many biological processes. Accumulating evidence suggests that serum exosomes are potential biomarkers for the early diagnosis of cancer. To aid the downstream molecular analyses of tumour-secreted exosomes, purified exosomes are highly desirable. However, current techniques for exosome isolation are time-consuming and highly instrument-dependent, with limited specificity and recovery. Thus, rapid and efficient methods are strongly needed for both basic research and clinical applications. Here, we present a novel strategy for facile exosome isolation from human serum by taking advantage of the specific interaction of TiO2 with the phosphate groups on the lipid bilayer of exosomes. Due to their simplicity and highly affinitive binding, model exosomes can be reversibly isolated with a high recovery (93.4%). Downstream characterization and proteome profiling reveal that high-quality exosomes can be obtained from human serum by this TiO2-based isolation method in 5 min, which is a fraction of the time required for the commonly used ultracentrifugation method. We identified 59 significantly up-regulated proteins by comparing the serum exosomes of pancreatic cancer patients and healthy donors. In addition to the 30 proteins that were reported to be closely related to pancreatic cancer, we found an additional 29 proteins that had not previously been shown to be related to pancreatic cancer, indicating the potential of this novel method as a powerful tool for exosome isolation for health monitoring and disease diagnosis.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a class of crystalline materials built from organic binding ligands and metal ions through self-assembly. Currently, MOFs have drawn a growing interest among the scientific teams of various fields. Compared with conventional inorganic porous materials, MOFs possess larger specific surface areas, higher porosity and diversity of structures and functions, thus many potential applications have been proposed in the domains of gas adsorption and separation, sensors, drug delivery, catalysis or others. The combinations of MOFs and other materials such as graphene oxide, magnetic nanoparticles have obvious advantages in adsorption and separation. The appearance of novel materials greatly promotes interdisciplinary developments such as organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry, coordination chemistry, materials chemistry, life science and computer science. This article reviews the progress of MOFs in recent years, including the characteristics of MOFs, advances at home and abroad, applications, central issues of compound MOFs and the prospects in the future.