Uncovering the Stoichiometry ofPyrococcus furiosusRNase P, a Multi-Subunit Catalytic Ribonucleoprotein Complex, by Surface-Induced Dissociation and Ion Mobility Mass Spectrometry

We demonstrate that surface-induced dissociation (SID) coupled with ion mobility-mass spectrometry (IM-MS) is a powerful tool for determining the stoichiometry and quaternary structure of a multi-subunit ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complex assembled in Mg2+. We investigated here Pyrococcus furiosus (Pfu) RNase P, an archaeal RNP that catalyzes tRNA 5′ maturation. Previous step-wise, Mg2+-dependent reconstitutions of Pfu RNase P using its catalytic RNA subunit and two interacting protein cofactor pairs (RPP21•RPP29 and POP5•RPP30) revealed functional RNP intermediates en route to the RNase P enzyme, but provided no information on subunit stoichiometry. Our native MS studies with the proteins alone showed RPP21•RPP29 and (POP5•RPP30)2 complexes, but indicated a 1:1 composition for all subunits when either or both protein complexes bind the cognate RNA. These results highlight the utility of SID and IM-MS in resolving conformational heterogeneity and yielding insights on RNP assembly.