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Deciphering the ghost proteome in ovarian cancer cells by deep proteogenomic characterization.

Proteogenomics is becoming a powerful tool in personalized medicine by linking genomics, transcriptomics and mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomics. Due to increasing evidence of alternative open reading frame-encoded proteins (AltProts), proteogenomics has a high potential to unravel the characteristics, variants, expression levels of the alternative proteome, in addition to already annotated proteins (RefProts). To obtain a broader view of the proteome of ovarian cancer cells compared to ovarian epithelial cells, cell-specific total RNA-sequencing profiles and customized protein databases were generated. In total, 128 RefProts and 30 AltProts were identified exclusively in SKOV-3 and PEO-4 cells. Among them, an AltProt variant of IP_715944, translated from DHX8, was found mutated (p.Leu44Pro). We show high variation in protein expression levels of RefProts and AltProts in different subcellular compartments. The presence of 117 RefProt and two AltProt variants was described, along with their possible implications in the different physiological/pathological characteristics. To identify the possible involvement of AltProts in cellular processes, cross-linking-MS (XL-MS) was performed in each cell line to identify AltProt-RefProt interactions. This approach revealed an interaction between POLD3 and the AltProt IP_183088, which after molecular docking, was placed between POLD3-POLD2 binding sites, highlighting its possibility of the involvement in DNA replication and repair.

Humans↗

The EMBL Nucleotide Sequence Database: major new developments.

The EMBL Nucleotide Sequence Database (http://www.ebi.ac.uk/embl/) incorporates, organizes and distributes nucleotide sequences from all available public sources. The database is located and maintained at the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI) near Cambridge, UK. In an international collaboration with DDBJ (Japan) and GenBank (USA), data are exchanged amongst the collaborating databases on a daily basis to achieve optimal synchronization. Webin is the preferred web-based submission system for individual submitters, while automatic procedures allow incorporation of sequence data from large-scale genome sequencing centres and from the European Patent Office (EPO). Database releases are produced quarterly. Network services allow free access to the most up-to-date data collection via FTP, Email and World Wide Web interfaces. EBI's Sequence Retrieval System (SRS) integrates and links the main nucleotide and protein databases plus many other specialized molecular biology databases. For sequence similarity searching, a variety of tools (e.g. Fasta, BLAST) are available which allow external users to compare their own sequences against the latest data in the EMBL Nucleotide Sequence Database and SWISS-PROT. All resources can be accessed via the EBI home page at http://www.ebi.ac.uk.

Animals↗

Characterization of the type-1 repeat from thyroglobulin, a cysteine-rich module found in proteins from different families.

The amino acid sequence of human thyroglobulin is known to enclose cysteine-rich repetitive regions. In this study, we report the existence of an eleventh type-1 repeat within the human thyroglobulin sequence, and we characterize the thyroglobulin type-1 repeat as a protein module. The 11 thyroglobulin type-1 repeats possessed the same number of cysteine residues (six in type A, four in the two type B repeats), a fairly constant number of residues between cysteines and a conserved sequence pattern. By scanning protein sequence databases, 29 proteins belonging to six different families were found to enclose at least one, and up to three, thyroglobulin type-1 repeats in their sequence. Although the repeat was present in numerous proteins possessing binding properties, an examination of the information available in the literature showed that a direct role of the repeat in protein-protein interaction has rarely been assessed. A distance analysis of the sequences indicated that all repeats segregate into four clusters of phylogenically close sequences. A consensus sequence of type-1 repeats was derived from sequence similarity analysis; it comprised a central core of conserved residues including two highly conserved motifs, QC and CWCV. The type-1 repeat from thyroglobulin was found to differ from several previously described cysteine-rich modules, in particular from the epidermal-growth-factor-like module with which it has sometimes been confused. Therefore, our results provide a complete characterization of the repeats which will help in the detection of these repeats in newly characterized proteins, a necessary step for understanding the structural/biological role of this module.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Analysis of post-translational modification and characterization of the domain structure of dynamin A from Dictyostelium discoideum.

The post-translational modifications of the 96 kDa protein dynamin A from Dictyostelium discoideum were analyzed using Q-TOF mass spectrometry. The accurate molecular mass of the intact protein revealed a covalent modification causing an additional mass of 42 Da. The modification could be identified as N-terminal acetylation by tandem mass spectrometry. Extracted ion chromatograms for the a(1) and b(1) ion of the tryptic T1 peptide were used to detect the acetylated peptide within 54 nanoelectrospray ionization tandem mass spectra. Owing to the accurate molecular mass of the intact protein, additional covalent modifications could be excluded. In addition to the covalent modification, the domain structure of dynamin A was determined by applying a combination of limited proteolysis, sodium dodecylsulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, automated tandem mass spectrometry and protein database searching.

Acetylation↗

RNAi-induced silencing of embryonic tryptophan oxygenase in the Pyralid moth, Plodia interpunctella.

Gene silencing through the introduction of double-stranded RNA (RNA interference, RNAi) provides a powerful tool for the elucidation of gene function in many systems, including those where genomics and proteomics are incomplete. The use of RNAi technology for gene silencing in Lepidoptera has lacked significant attention compared to other systems. To demonstrate that RNAi can be utilized in the lepidopteran, Plodia interpunctella, we cloned a cDNA for tryptophan oxygenase, and showed that silencing of tryptophan oxygenase through RNAi during embryonic development resulted in loss of eye-color pigmentation. The complete amino acid sequence of Plodia tryptophan oxygenase can be accessed through NCBI Protein Database.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Alterations in gene expression associated with changes in the state of endothelial differentiation.

The endothelium maintains a developmental plasticity which allows rapid phenotypic change in response to extracellular signals during normal processes, such as corpus luteum formation and wound healing, and in pathologic processes, such as tumor angiogenesis. Endothelial cells (EC) in culture have been very useful for investigating various aspects of endothelial growth and behavior. In spite of documented similarities between EC in vitro and the endothelium in vivo, many characteristics of the vessel endothelium are lost when the cells are placed into culture. We have undertaken to identify differences in gene expression between differentiated vessel endothelium and dedifferentiated EC. We utilized a new technique called differential display which compares polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-amplified mRNA from two (or more) cell populations. Endothelium scraped directly from freshly obtained aortas, and demonstrated to be free of contaminants, were used as the source of differentiated RNA, whereas proliferating, primary explanted EC grown for five days in the presence of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) provided a pool of 'dedifferentiated' RNA. Using differential display, we have observed numerous reproducible differences in gene expression. To confirm that the expression differences visualized by differential display represented actual differences in gene expression, we isolated vessel-specific and culture-specific cDNA tags for additional analysis. Three cDNA tags specific to vessel endothelium were cloned and sequenced, and compared to nucleotide and protein databases. Two of the clones (A1 and 2.5) displayed no significant sequence similarity, whereas a third clone (A2) is nearly identical to a human expressed sequence tag (EST) and has significant sequence similarities to a plant and Xenopus ubiquitin-like protein. Northern and/or in situ hybridization analysis of the A1 and A2 genes confirmed their restricted expression to the vessel endothelium. The expression of A1 by the endothelium in vivo is not simply a function of growth state, as cultured cells did not express A1 even when grown to postconfluence. One other cDNA fragment, selected as a culture-induced gene, was identified by sequence analysis as the bovine homologue of laminin B1, and Northern analysis confirmed that expression was induced upon culturing of EC. Use of differential display to study endothelial gene expression will allow us to investigate the molecular mechanisms that underlie initiation and maintenance of endothelial differentiation.

Animals↗

Expressed sequence tag analysis of the dinoflagellate Lingulodinium polyedrum during dark phase.

To collect information on gene expression during the dark period in the luminous dinoflagellate Lingulodinium polyedrum, normalized complementary DNA (cDNA) libraries were constructed from cells collected during the first hour of night phase in a 12:12 h light-dark cycle. A total of 4324 5'-end sequence tags were isolated. The sequences were grouped into 2111 independent expressed sequence tags (EST) from which 433 groups were established by similarity searches of the public nonredundant protein database. Homology analysis of the total sequences indicated that the luminous dinoflagellate is more similar to land plants and animals (vertebrates and invertebrates) than to prokaryotes or algae. We also isolated three bioluminescence-related (luciferase and two luciferin-binding proteins [LBP]) and 37 photosynthesis-related genes. Interestingly, two kinds of LBP genes occur in multiple copies in the genome, in contrast to the single luciferase gene. These cDNA clones and EST sequence data should provide a powerful resource for future genome-wide functional analyses for uncharacterized genes.

Animals↗

Purification and cloning of a proline 3-hydroxylase, a novel enzyme which hydroxylates free L-proline to cis-3-hydroxy-L-proline.

Proline 3-hydroxylase was purified from Streptomyces sp. strain TH1, and its structural gene was cloned. The purified enzyme hydroxylated free L-proline to cis-3-hydroxy-L-proline and showed properties of a 2-oxoglutarate-dependent dioxygenase (H. Mori, T. Shibasaki, Y. Uosaki, K. Ochiai, and A. Ozaki, Appl. Environ. Microbiol, 62:1903-1907, 1996). The molecular mass of the purified enzyme was 35 kDa as determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The isoelectric point of the enzyme was 4.3. The optimal pH and temperature were 7.0 and 35 degrees C, respectively. The K(m) values were 0.56 and 0.11 mM for L-proline and 2-oxoglutarate, respectively. The Kcat value of hydroxylation was 3.2 s-1. Determined N-terminal and internal amino acid sequences of the purified protein were not found in the SwissProt protein database. A DNA fragment of 74 bp was amplified by PCR with degenerate primers based on the determined N-terminal amino acid sequence. With this fragment as a template, a digoxigenin-labeled N-terminal probe was synthesized by PCR. A 6.5-kbp chromosome fragment was cloned by colony hybridization with the labeled probe. The determined DNA sequence of the cloned fragment revealed a 870-bp open reading frame (ORF 3), encoding a protein of 290 amino acids with a calculated molecular weight of 33,158. No sequence homolog was found in EMBL, GenBank, and DDBJ databases. ORF 3 was expressed in Escherichia coli DH1. Recombinants showed hydroxylating activity five times higher than that of the original bacterium, Streptomyces sp. strain TH1. It was concluded that the ORF 3 encodes functional proline 3-hydroxylase.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Structural similarity between the p17 matrix protein of HIV-1 and interferon-gamma.

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) matrix protein, p17, forms the outer shell of the core of the virus, lining the inner surface of the viral membrane. The protein has several key functions. It orchestrates viral assembly via targeting signals that direct the gag precursor polyprotein, p55, to the host cell membrane and it interacts with the transmembrane protein, gp41, to retain the env-encoded proteins in the virus. In addition, p17 contains a nuclear localization signal that directs the preintegration complex to the nucleus of infected cells. This permits the virus to infect productively non-dividing cells, a distinguishing feature of HIV and other lentiviruses. We have determined the solution structure of p17 by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) with a root-mean square deviation for the backbone of the well-defined regions of 0.9 A. It consists of four helices connected by short loops and an irregular, mixed beta-sheet which provides a positively charged surface for interaction with the inner layer of the membrane. The helical topology is unusual; the Brookhaven protein database contains only one similar structure, that of the immune modulator interferon-gamma.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Helix propensities of short peptides: molecular dynamics versus bioinformatics.

Knowledge-based potential functions for protein structure prediction assume that the frequency of occurrence of a given structure or a contact in the protein database is a measure of its free energy. Here, we put this assumption to test by comparing the results obtained from sequence-structure cluster analysis with those obtained from long all-atom molecular dynamics simulations. Sixty-four eight-residue peptide sequences with varying degrees of similarity to the canonical sequence pattern for amphipathic helix were drawn from known protein structures, regardless of whether they were helical in the protein. Each was simulated using AMBER6.0 for at least 10 ns using explicit waters. The total simulation time was 1176 ns. The resulting trajectories were tested for reproducibility, and the helical content was measured. Natural peptides whose sequences matched the amphipathic helix motif with greater than 50% confidence were significantly more likely to form helix during the course of the simulation than peptides with lower confidence scores. The sequence pattern derived from the simulation data closely resembles the motif pattern derived from the database cluster analysis. The difficulties encountered in sampling conformational space and sequence space simultaneously are discussed.

Amino Acid Motifs↗

Vaccinia virus nucleoside triphosphate phosphohydrolase I is an essential viral early gene transcription termination factor.

Deng and Shuman (J. Biol Chem. 271, 29386 (1996)) reported that an ATPase different from the known viral termination factor, VTF, is required for vaccinia virus early gene transcription termination. Properties of this ATPase were similar to those of a known vaccinia virus enzyme, nucleoside triphosphate phosphohydrolase I (NPH I) the product of gene D11L. Transcription-competent cell-free extracts were prepared from A549 cells infected with wild-type or mutant vaccinia virus harboring ts mutations in gene D11L. These extracts were employed to investigate the role of NPH I in early gene transcription termination. Extracts prepared under nonpermissive conditions from both wild-type virus and ts mutant virus-infected cells exhibited high levels of early and intermediate gene transcription activity but were incapable of supporting late gene transcription. ts mutant extract lacked signal-dependent early gene transcription termination activity, which was restored by the addition of either free NPH I or a GST-NPH I fusion protein. A comparison of the NPH I amino acid sequence to the protein databases revealed the presence of a set of sequences characteristic of nucleic acid helicase superfamily II members. A series of site-specific mutations in the helicase motifs and N-terminal and C-terminal deletion mutations were expressed as GST fusion proteins and their activities assessed. Of the mutations in helicase motifs I to VI, alteration of all but motif III reduced the ATPase activity. Removal of as few as 24 amino acids from the N-terminal end eliminated ATPase activity, while deletion of 68 C-terminal amino acids exhibited only a modest decrease in ATP hydrolysis. Larger C-terminal deletions eliminated ATPase activity. Each deletion mutation, and site-specific mutations other than the motif III mutation, failed to support transcription termination in vitro. Mutations in motifs I, II, V, and VI inhibit wild-type NPH I transcription termination activity. However, deletion of up to 68 amino acids from the C-terminal end eliminates this inhibitory property. This observation is particularly interesting since these C-terminal deletions retain both ATPase activity and single-stranded DNA binding activity. Their failure to inhibit transcription termination suggests that these C-terminal deletion mutations eliminate a site required for a function other than from DNA binding or ATP hydrolysis.

Acid Anhydride Hydrolases↗

Proteomic analysis of individual human embryos to identify novel biomarkers of development and viability.

OBJECTIVE: To develop a method to analyze the proteome of individual human blastocysts and identify differentially expressed proteins prior to implantation. DESIGN: Experimental study. SETTING: Research environment. PATIENT(S): Couples undergoing infertility treatment donated with consent cryopreserved human cleavage-stage embryos for research. INTERVENTION(S): Individual embryos were extracted and analyzed by time-of-flight mass spectrometry. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): The protein expression profiles of individual embryos. RESULT(S): Differential protein expression profiles were observed between early and expanded blastocysts, as well as between developing blastocysts and degenerate embryos. Significantly, several up-regulated and down-regulated proteins were detected in degenerating embryos. A search in the protein databases highlighted several candidates, including an inhibitor of Tcf-4 (transcription factor mediating Wnt signaling) and an apoptotic protease-activating factor. CONCLUSION(S): This is the first study to successfully analyze the proteome of individual human embryos. This study has shown that protein expression profiles relate to morphology, with degenerating embryos exhibiting significant up-regulation of several potential biomarkers that might be involved in apoptotic and growth-inhibiting pathways.

Biomarkers↗

Tracker: continuous HMMER and BLAST searching.

SUMMARY: Tracker is a web-based email alert system for monitoring protein database searches using HMMER and Blast-P, nucleotide searches using Blast-N and literature searches of the PubMed database. Users submit searches via a web-based interface. Searches are saved and run against updated databases to alert users about new information. If there are new results from the saved searches, users will be notified by email and will then be able to access results and link to additional information on the NCBI website. Tracker supports Boolean AND/OR operations on HMMER and BLASTP result sets to allow users to broaden or narrow protein searches. AVAILABILITY: The server is located at http://jay.bioinformatics.ku.edu/tracker/index.html. A distribution package including detailed installation procedure is freely available from http://jay.bioinformatics.ku.edu/download/tracker/.

Database Management Systems↗

Proteomic analysis and the antimetastatic effect of N-(4-methyl)phenyl-O-(4-methoxy) phenyl-thionocarbamate-induced apoptosis in human melanoma SK-MEL-28 cells.

We employed human SK-MEL-28 cells as a model system to identify cellular proteins that accompany N-(4-methyl)phenyl-O-(4-methoxy)phenyl-thionocarbamate (MMTC)-induced apoptosis based on a proteomic approach. Cell viability tests revealed that SK-MEL-28 skin cancer cells underwent more cell death than normal HaCaT cells in a dose-dependent manner after treatment with MMTC. Two-dimensional electrophoresis in conjunction with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry analysis or computer matching with a protein database further revealed that the MMTC-induced apoptosis is accompanied by increased levels of caspase-1, checkpoint suppressor-1, caspase-4, NF-kappaB inhibitor, AP-2, c-Jun-N-terminal kinase, melanoma inhibitor, granzyme K, G1/S specific cyclin D3, cystein rich protein, Ras-related protein Rab-37 or Ras-related protein Rab-13, and reduced levels of EMS (oncogene), ATP synthase, tyrosine-phosphatase, Cdc25c, 14-3-3 protein or specific structure of nuclear receptor. The migration suppressing effect of MMTC on SK-MEL-28 cell was tested. MMTC suppressed the metastasis of SK-MEL-8 cells. It was also identified that MMTC had little angiogenic effect because it did not suppress the proliferation of HUVEC cell line. These results suggest that MMTC is a novel chemotherapeutic and metastatic agents against the SK-MEL-28 human melanoma cell line.

Antineoplastic Agents↗

Tracing the evolutionary origin of the TFF-domain, an ancient motif at mucous surfaces.

Mammalian trefoil factor family (TFF)-domain peptides promote gastrointestinal protection, healing and cell migration and may act as tumour suppressors. TFF-like domains also constitute modules of composite proteins like mucin glycoproteins and zona pellucida proteins. Database searches with a modified, less stringent consensus sequence - C-x(5,6)-[ST]-x(3)-C-x(4,5)-C-C-[FYWH]-x(2, 24)-C-[FY] - revealed that ancestors of the TFF-domain arose before amphibian evolution. Eggshell proteins and a zona pellucida-like protein in teleost species, an epidermis-specific protein in a tunicate as well as an open reading frame in a nematode exhibited TFF-like motifs suggesting that they most likely originated in some multicellular organism.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Patatins, Kunitz protease inhibitors and other major proteins in tuber of potato cv. Kuras.

The major potato tuber proteins of the Kuras cultivar, which is the dominant cultivar used in Northern Europe for industrial starch production, were analysed using 1D and 2D gel electrophoresis. The electrophoretic patterns varied significantly depending on the method of preparation and the potato variant (Solanum tuberosum). Proteins were characterized using MS and scored against potato protein databases, derived from both 'Kuras only' and 'all potato' expressed sequence tags (EST) and full-length cDNAs. Despite the existence of approximately 180 000 ESTs, the currently available potato sequence data showed a severe under-representation of genes or long transcripts encoding proteins > 50 kDa (3.5% of all) compared with the complete proteome of Arabidopsis thaliana (33% of all). We found that patatin and Kunitz protease inhibitor (KPI) variants are extraordinarily dominant in Kuras tuber and, most significantly, that their amino acid sequences are specific to Kuras. Other proteins identified include annexin, glyoxalase I, enolase and two lipoxygenases, the sequences of which are highly conserved among potato variants. Known S. tuberosum patatins cluster into three clades all represented in Kuras. S. tuberosum KPIs cluster into more diverse clades of which five were found in Kuras tuber, including a novel clade, KPI K, found to date only in Kuras. Furthermore, protein abundance was contrasted with the levels of corresponding gene transcripts found in our previous EST and LongSAGE studies of Kuras tuber.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Validating the use of database potentials in protein structure determination by NMR.

The refinement of protein structures determined by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy against database potentials of mean force allows for the exclusion of unfavourable conformations of the protein backbone during a structure calculation, resulting in protein structures with a marked improvement in Ramachandran statistics. In this communication, we use multiple sets of residual dipolar couplings as quality assessment criteria for several proteins and show that not only do the Ramachandran and structural quality statistics improve, but a significant improvement in the accuracy of structures is achieved upon refinement.

Data Interpretation, Statistical↗

Three-dimensional model and quaternary structure of the human eye lens protein gamma S-crystallin based on beta- and gamma-crystallin X-ray coordinates and ultracentrifugation.

A 3-dimensional model of the human eye lens protein gamma S-crystallin has been constructed using comparative modeling approaches encoded in the program COMPOSER on the basis of the 3-dimensional structure of gamma-crystallin and beta-crystallin. The model is biased toward the monomeric gamma B-crystallin, which is more similar in sequence. Bovine gamma S-crystallin was shown to be monomeric by analytical ultracentrifugation without any tendency to form assemblies up to concentrations in the millimolar range. The connecting peptide between domains was therefore built assuming an intramolecular association as in the monomeric gamma-crystallins. Because the linker has 1 extra residue compared with gamma B and beta B2, the conformation of the connecting peptide was constructed by using a fragment from a protein database. gamma S-crystallin differs from gamma B-crystallin mainly in the interface region between domains. The charged residues are generally paired, although in a different way from both beta- and gamma-crystallins, and may contribute to the different roles of these proteins in the lens.

Amino Acid Sequence↗