EMSL: Kim Hixson's Publications

Lopez-Ferrer D, KK Hixson, HS Smallwood, TC Squier, K Petritis, and RD Smith. 2009. "Evaluation of a High Intensity Focused Ultrasound-Immobilized Trypsin Digestion and 18 O-Labeling Method for Quantitative Proteomics." Analytical Chemistry 81(15):6272-6277. Abstract A new method that uses immobilized trypsin concomitant with ultrasonic irradiation results in ultra-rapid digestion and thorough 18O labeling for quantitative protein comparisons. The reproducible and highly efficient method provided effective digestions in <1 min and minimized the amount of enzyme required compared to traditional methods. This method was demonstrated for digestion of both simple and complex protein mixtures, including bovine serum albumin, a global proteome extract from bacteria Shewanella oneidensis, and mouse plasma, as well as for the labeling of complex protein mixtures, which validated the application of this method for differential proteomic measurements. This approach is simple, reproducible, cost effective, and rapid, and thus well-suited for automation.

Ding YHR, KK Hixson, M Aklujkar, MS Lipton, RD Smith, DR Lovley, and T Mester. 2008. "Proteome of Geobacter sulfurreducens grown with Fe(III) oxide or Fe(III) citrate as the electron acceptor." Biochimica et Biophysica Acta--Proteins and Proteomics 1784(12):1935-1941. doi:10.1016/j.bbapap.2008.06.011 Abstract e(III) oxides are the most abundant source of reducible Fe(III) by microorganisms in most soils and sediments, yet few studies on the physiology of Fe(III)-reducing microorganisms during growth on Fe(III) oxide have been conducted because of the technical difficulties in working with cell growth and harvest in the presence of Fe(III) oxides. Geobacter sulfurreducens is a representative of the Geobacter species that predominate in a variety of subsurface environments in which Fe(III) oxide is important. In order to better understand the physiology of Geobacter species during growth on Fe(III) oxide, the proteome of G. sulfurreducens grown on Fe(III) oxide was compared with the proteome of cells grown with soluble Fe(III) citrate. Two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2-D PAGE) revealed 19 proteins that were more abundant during growth on Fe(III) oxide than on soluble Fe(III). These included proteins related to protein synthesis, electron transfer and energy production, oxidative stress, protein folding, outer membrane proteins, nitrogen metabolism and hypothetical proteins. Further analysis of the proteome with the accurate mass and time (AMT) tag method revealed additional proteins associated with growth on Fe(III) oxide. These included the outer-membrane c-type cytochrome, OmcS and OmcG, which genetic studies have suggested are required for Fe(III) oxide reduction. Furthermore, several other cytochromes, as yet unstudied, were detected to be significantly up regulated during growth on Fe(III) oxide and other proteins of unknown function were more abundant during growth on Fe(III) oxide than on soluble Fe(III). PilA, the structural protein for pili, which is required for Fe(III) oxide reduction, and other pilin-associated proteins were also more abundant during growth on Fe(III) oxide. Confirmation of the differential expression of proteins known to be important in Fe(III) oxide reduction was observed, and an additional number of previously unidentified proteins were found with significant abundance in the cells grown under conditions of Fe(III) oxide reduction.

Lopez-Ferrer D, K Petritis, KK Hixson, TH Heibeck, RJ Moore, ME Belov, DG Camp, II, and RD Smith. 2008. "Application of pressurized solvents for ultrafast trypsin hydrolysis in proteomics: Proteomics on the fly." Journal of Proteome Research 7(8):3276-3281. doi:10.1021/pr7008077 Abstract A new method for rapid proteolytic digestion of proteins under high pressure that uses pressure cycling technology in the range of 5 to 35 kpsi was demonstrated for proteomic analysis. Successful in-solution digestions of single proteins and complex protein mixtures were achieved in 60 s and then analyzed by reversed phase liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization ion trap-mass spectrometry. Method performance in terms of the number of Shewanella oneidensis peptides and proteins identified in a shotgun approach was evaluated relative to a traditional “overnight” sample preparation method. Advantages of the new method include greatly simplified sample processing, easy implementation, no cross contamination among samples, and cost effectiveness.

Lopez-Ferrer D, TH Heibeck, K Petritis, KK Hixson, W Qian, ME Monroe, AM Mayampurath, RJ Moore, ME Belov, DG Camp, II, and RD Smith. 2008. "Rapid Sample Processing For LC-MS Based Quantitative Proteomics Using High Intensity Focused Ultrasounds." Journal of Proteome Research 7(9):3860-3867. doi:10.1021/pr800161x Abstract A new sample processing workflow that uses high intensity focused ultrasound to rapidly reduce and alkylate cysteines, digest proteins and then label peptides with 18O was developed for quantitative proteomics applications. Each step was individually refined to minimize reaction times, peptide loses and undesired by-products or modifications. By using this novel workflow, mouse plasma proteins were successfully denatured, alkylated, in-solution digested, and 18O labelled in < 10 min for subsequent analysis by liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization high resolution mass spectrometry. Performance was evaluated in terms of the number of mouse plasma peptides and proteins identified in a shotgun approach and the quantitative dynamic range. The results were compared with previously published results obtained using conventional sample preparation methods and were found to be similar. Advantages of the new method include greatly simplified and accelerated sample processing, as well as being readily amenable to automation.

Shen Y, N Tolic, KK Hixson, SO Purvine, GA Anderson, and RD Smith. 2008. "De novo sequencing of unique sequence tags for discovery of post-translational modifications of proteins ." Analytical Chemistry 80(20):7742-7754. doi:10.1021/ac801123p Abstract De novo sequencing has a promise to discover the protein post-translation modifications; however, such approach is still in their infancy and not widely applied for proteomics practices due to its limited reliability. In this work, we describe a de novo sequencing approach for discovery of protein modifications through identification of the UStags (Anal. Chem. 2008, 80, 1871-1882). The de novo information was obtained from Fourier-transform tandem mass spectrometry for peptides and polypeptides in a yeast lysate, and the de novo sequences obtained were filtered to define a more limited set of UStags. The DNA-predicted database protein sequences were then compared to the UStags, and the differences observed across or in the UStags (i.e., the UStags’ prefix and suffix sequences and the UStags themselves) were used to infer the possible sequence modifications. With this de novo-UStag approach, we uncovered some unexpected variances of yeast protein sequences due to amino acid mutations and/or multiple modifications to the predicted protein sequences. Random matching of the de novo sequences to the predicted sequences were examined with use of two random (false) databases, and ~3% false discovery rates were estimated for the de novo-UStag approach. The factors affecting the reliability (e.g., existence of de novo sequencing noise residues and redundant sequences) and the sensitivity are described. The de novo-UStag complements the UStag method previously reported by enabling discovery of new protein modifications.

Shen Y, KK Hixson, N Tolic, DG Camp, II, SO Purvine, RJ Moore, and RD Smith. 2008. "Mass Spectrometry Analysis of Proteome-wide Proteolytic Post-translational Degradation of Proteins." Analytical Chemistry 80(15):5819-5828. doi:10.1021/ac800077w Abstract Protein proteolysis is an essential component to proper cell function. Here, we demonstrate a method for studying protein degradation by detection of intermediate intracellular peptides with a high-precision tandem mass spectrometry de novo sequencing-based approach. From a Saccharomyces cerevisiae lysate, we identified >1,200 peptides containing 6-100 amino acids without random false positives and ascribed most identifications as being products of protein degradation. Most protein degradation observed was located in the cytoplasm, and multiple types of cleavage were found to exist in addition to the expected trypsin-like and chymotrypsin-like preferences. The yeast nucleus was found as a proteolysis-inert organelle under the conditions studied and the V-ATPase to be degraded during disassembly. Additionally, matrix associated mitochondrial proteins functioning as transport carriers and gates were found to be commonly degraded. Determining these protein degradation events could eventually aid in understanding of cell biology and detection and treatment of protein degradation-related diseases.

Shen Y, N Tolic, KK Hixson, SO Purvine, L Pasa-Tolic, W Qian, JN Adkins, RJ Moore, and RD Smith. 2008. "Proteome-wide identification of proteins and their modifications with decreased ambiguities and improved false discovery rates using unique sequence tags." Analytical Chemistry 80(6):1871-82. doi:10.1021/ac702328x Abstract Identifying proteins correctly and with known levels of confidence remain as significant challenges for proteomics. Random or decoy peptide databases are increasingly being used to estimate the false discovery rate (FDR), e.g., from liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) analyses of tryptic digests. We show that this approach can significantly underestimate the FDR, and describe an approach for more confident protein identifications that uses unique partial sequences derived from a combination of database searching and de novo-style data analyses of high precision MS/MS data. Applied to a Saccharomyces cerevisiae tryptic digest, the approach provided 3,132 confident peptide identifications (~5% modified in some fashion), covering 575 proteins with an estimated zero FDR. The conventional approach provided 3,359 peptide identifications and 656 proteins with 0.3% FDR based upon a decoy database analysis. However, the present approach revealed ~5% of the 3,359 identifications to be incorrect, and many more as potentially ambiguous, (e.g., due to not considering certain amino acid substitutions and modifications). In addition, 677 peptides and 39 proteins were identified that had been missed by conventional analysis, including non-tryptic peptides, peptides with various expected/unexpected chemical modifications, known/unknown posttranslational modifications, single nucleotide polymorphisms or gene encoding errors, and multiple modifications of individual peptides.

Wegener KM, EA Welsh, LE Thornton, NS Keren, JM Jacobs, KK Hixson, ME Monroe, DG Camp, II, RD Smith, and HB Pakrasi. 2008. "High Sensitivity Proteomics Assisted Discovery of a Novel Operon Involved in the Assembly of Photosystem II, a Membrane Protein Complex." Journal of Biological Chemistry 283(41):27829-27837. doi:10.1074/jbc.M803918200 Abstract Photosystem II (PSII) is a large membrane protein complex that performs the water oxidation reactions of the photosynthetic electron transport chain in plants, algae, and cyanobacteria. Utilizing a high-throughput proteomic analysis of isolated PSII complexes from the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803, we have identified four PSII associated proteins that are encoded by the cofactor integration operon (cio). This operon contains genes with putative binding domains for chlorophyll, iron-sulfur centers, and bilins. Protein levels of this operon are more abundant in several PSII lumenal mutants, suggesting an accumulation of cio products in partially assembled PSII complexes. This provides a rare example of a bacterial operon whose protein products are translationally coordinated and associated with a single protein complex. Genetic deletion of cio results in decreased oxygen evolution by PSII, suggesting that cio products may function as regulators of PSII complex assembly or degradation, maybe facilitating an uncharacterized step in PSII assembly.

Resch W, KK Hixson, RJ Moore, MS Lipton, and B Moss. 2007. "Protein Composition of the Vaccinia Virus Mature Virion." Virology 358(1):233-247. Abstract The protein content of vaccinia virus mature virions, purified by rate zonal and isopycnic centrifugation and solubilized by SDS or a solution of urea and thiourea, was determined by the accurate mass and time tag technology which uses both tandem mass spectrometry and Fourier transform-ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry to detect tryptic peptides separated by high-resolution liquid chromatography. Eighty vaccinia virus-encoded proteins representing 37% of the 218 genes annotated in the complete genome sequence were detected in at least three analyses. Ten proteins accounted for approximately 80% of the mass, while the least abundant proteins made up 1% or less of the mass. Thirteen identified proteins were not previously reported as components of virions. On the other hand, 8 previously described virion proteins were not detected here, presumably due to technical reasons including small size and hydrophobicity. In addition to vaccinia virus-encoded proteins, 24 host proteins omitting isoforms were detected. The most abundant of these were cytoskeletal proteins, heat shock proteins, and proteins involved in translation.

Ding YHR, KK Hixson, CS Giometti, A Stanley, A Esteve-Nunez, T Khare, SL Tollaksen, W Zhu, JN Adkins, MS Lipton, RD Smith, T Mester, and DR Lovley. 2006. "The Proteome of Dissimilatory Metal-reducing Microorganism Geobacter Sulfurreducens under Various Growth Conditions." Biochimica et Biophysica Acta--Proteins and Proteomics 1764(7):1198-1206. doi:10.1016/j.bbapap.2006.04.017 Abstract The global protein analysis of Geobacter sulfurreducens, a model for the Geobacter species that predominate in many Fe(III)-reducing subsurface environments, was characterized with ultra high pressure liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry using accurate mass and time (AMT) tags as well as with more traditional two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2-D PAGE). Cells were grown under eight different growth conditions in order to enhance the potential that genes would be expressed. Over 3,187 gene products, representing about 92% of the total predicted gene products in the genome, were detected. The AMT approach was able to identify a much higher number of proteins than could be detected with the 2-D PAGE approach. A high proportion of predicted proteins in most protein role categories were detected with the highest number of proteins identified in the hypothetical protein role category. Furthermore, 91 c-type cytochromes of 111 predicted genes in the G. sulfurreducens genome were identified. Localization studies indicated that computational predictions of cytochrome location were limited. Differences in the abundance of cytochromes and other proteins under different growth conditions provided information for future functional analysis of these proteins. These results demonstrate that a high percentage of the predicted proteins in the G. sulfurreducens genome are produced and that the AMT approach provides a rapid method for comparing differential expression of proteins under different growth conditions in this organism.