A novel bio-orthogonal cross-linker for improved protein/protein interaction analysis

Anal Chem. 2015 Feb 3;87(3):1853-60. doi: 10.1021/ac503892c. Epub 2015 Jan 12.

Abstract

The variety of protein cross-linkers developed in recent years illustrates the current requirement for efficient reagents optimized for mass spectrometry (MS) analysis. To date, the most widely used strategy relies on commercial cross-linkers that bear an isotopically labeled tag and N-hydroxysuccinimid-ester (NHS-ester) moieties. Moreover, an enrichment step using liquid chromatography is usually performed after enzymatic digestion of the cross-linked proteins. Unfortunately, this approach suffers from several limitations. First, it requires large amounts of proteins. Second, NHS-ester cross-linkers are poorly efficient because of their fast hydrolysis in water. Finally, data analysis is complicated because of uneven fragmentation of complex isotopic cross-linked peptide mixtures. We therefore synthesized a new type of trifunctional cross-linker to overrule these limitations. This reagent, named NNP9, comprises a rigid core and bears two activated carbamate moieties and an azido group. NNP9 was used to establish intra- and intermolecular cross-links within creatine kinase, then to map the interaction surfaces between α-Synuclein (α-Syn), the aggregation of which leads to Parkinson's disease, and the molecular chaperone Hsc70. We show that NNP9 cross-linking efficiency is significantly higher than that of NHS-ester commercial cross-linkers. The number of cross-linked peptides identified was increased, and a high quality of MS/MS spectra leading to high sequence coverage was observed. Our data demonstrate the potential of NNP9 for an efficient and straightforward characterization of protein-protein interfaces and illustrate the power of using different cross-linkers to map thoroughly the surface interfaces within protein complexes.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Azides / chemistry*
  • Carbamates / chemistry*
  • Chromatography, Liquid / methods
  • Cross-Linking Reagents / chemistry*
  • HSC70 Heat-Shock Proteins / chemistry
  • HSC70 Heat-Shock Proteins / metabolism*
  • Humans
  • Mass Spectrometry / methods
  • Models, Molecular
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Parkinson Disease / metabolism
  • Protein Interaction Mapping / methods*
  • Protein Interaction Maps
  • alpha-Synuclein / chemistry
  • alpha-Synuclein / metabolism*

Substances

  • Azides
  • Carbamates
  • Cross-Linking Reagents
  • HSC70 Heat-Shock Proteins
  • alpha-Synuclein