Top-Down Proteomics of Large Proteins up to 223 kDa Enabled by Serial Size Exclusion Chromatography Strategy

Anal Chem. 2017 May 16;89(10):5467-5475. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.7b00380. Epub 2017 May 2.

Abstract

Mass spectrometry (MS)-based top-down proteomics is a powerful method for the comprehensive analysis of proteoforms that arise from genetic variations and post-translational modifications (PTMs). However, top-down MS analysis of high molecular weight (MW) proteins remains challenging mainly due to the exponential decay of signal-to-noise ratio with increasing MW. Size exclusion chromatography (SEC) is a favored method for size-based separation of biomacromolecules but typically suffers from low resolution. Herein, we developed a serial size exclusion chromatography (sSEC) strategy to enable high-resolution size-based fractionation of intact proteins (10-223 kDa) from complex protein mixtures. The sSEC fractions could be further separated by reverse phase chromatography (RPC) coupled online with high-resolution MS. We have shown that two-dimensional (2D) sSEC-RPC allowed for the identification of 4044 more unique proteoforms and a 15-fold increase in the detection of proteins above 60 kDa, compared to one-dimensional (1D) RPC. Notably, effective sSEC-RPC separation of proteins significantly enhanced the detection of high MW proteins up to 223 kDa and also revealed low abundance proteoforms that are post-translationally modified. This sSEC method is MS-friendly, robust, and reproducible and, thus, can be applied to both high-efficiency protein purification and large-scale proteomics analysis of cell or tissue lysate for enhanced proteome coverage, particularly for low abundance and high MW proteoforms.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Chromatography, Gel
  • Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid
  • Chromatography, Reverse-Phase
  • Creatine Kinase, MM Form / analysis
  • Creatine Kinase, MM Form / isolation & purification
  • Creatine Kinase, MM Form / metabolism
  • Humans
  • Molecular Weight
  • Myocardium / metabolism
  • Proteins / analysis*
  • Proteins / isolation & purification
  • Proteins / metabolism
  • Proteomics / methods*
  • Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Substances

  • Proteins
  • Creatine Kinase, MM Form