Integrative RNA-seq and ChIP-seq analysis unveils metabolic regulation as a conserved antiviral mechanism of chicken p53.

The tumor suppressor p53, primarily functioning as a transcription factor, has exhibited antiviral capabilities against various viruses in chickens, including infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV), avian leukosis virus subgroup J (ALV-J), and avian infectious laryngotracheitis virus (ILTV). Nevertheless, the existence of a universal antiviral mechanism employed by chicken p53 (chp53) against these viruses remains uncertain. This study conducted a comprehensive comparison of molecular networks involved in chp53's antiviral function against IBDV, ALV-J, and ILTV. This was achieved through an integrated analysis of ChIP-seq data, examining chp53's genome-wide chromatin occupancy, and RNA-seq data from chicken cells infected with these viruses. The consistent observation of chp53 target gene enrichment in metabolic pathways, confirmed via ChIP-qPCR, suggests a ubiquitous regulation of host cellular metabolism by chp53 across different viruses. Further genome binding motif conservation analysis and transcriptional co-factor prediction suggest conserved transcriptional regulation mechanism by which chp53 regulates host cellular metabolism during viral infection. These findings offer novel insights into the antiviral role of chp53 and propose that targeting the virus-host metabolic interaction through regulating p53 could serve as a universal strategy for antiviral therapies in chickens.IMPORTANCEThe current study conducted a comprehensive analysis, comparing molecular networks underlying chp53's antiviral role against infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV), avian leukosis virus subgroup J (ALV-J), and avian infectious laryngotracheitis virus (ILTV). This was achieved through a combined assessment of ChIP-seq and RNA-seq data obtained from infected chicken cells. Notably, enrichment of chp53 target genes in metabolic pathways was consistently observed across viral infections, indicating a universal role of chp53 in regulating cellular metabolism during diverse viral infections. These findings offer novel insights into the antiviral capabilities of chicken p53, laying a foundation for the potential development of broad-spectrum antiviral therapies in chickens.

A critical role of the endothelial S-phase kinase-associated protein 2/phosphatase and tensin homologue axis in angiogenesis and psoriasis.

BACKGROUND: Psoriasis is a common chronic skin disorder. Pathologically, it features abnormal epidermal proliferation, infiltrating inflammatory cells and increased angiogenesis in the dermis. Aberrant expression of E3 ubiquitin ligase and a dysregulated protein ubiquitination system are implicated in the pathogenesis of psoriasis. OBJECTIVES: To examine the potential role of S-phase kinase-associated protein 2 (Skp2), an E3 ligase and oncogene, in psoriasis. METHODS: Gene expression and protein levels were evaluated with quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, Western blotting, immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence staining of skin samples from patients with psoriasis vulgaris and an imiquimod (IMQ)-induced mouse model, as well as from cultured endothelial cells (ECs). Protein interaction, substrate ubiquitination and degradation were examined using co-immunoprecipitation, Western blotting and a cycloheximide chase assay in human umbilical vein ECs. Angiogenesis was measured in vitro using human dermal microvascular ECs (HDMECs) for BrdU incorporation, migration and tube formation. In vivo angiogenesis assays included chick embryonic chorioallantoic membrane, the Matrigel plug assay and quantification of vasculature in the mouse lesions. Skp2 gene global knockout (KO) mice and endothelial-specific conditional KO mice were used. RESULTS: Skp2 was increased in skin samples from patients with psoriasis and IMQ-induced mouse lesions. Immunofluorescent double staining indicated a close association of Skp2 expression with excessive vascularity in the lesional dermal papillae. In HDMECs, Skp2 overexpression was enhanced, whereas Skp2 knockdown inhibited EC proliferation, migration and tube-like structure formation. Mechanistically, phosphatase and tensin homologue (PTEN), which suppresses the phosphoinositide 3-kinase/Akt pathway, was identified to be a novel substrate for Skp2-mediated ubiquitination. A selective inhibitor of Skp2 (C1) or Skp2 small interfering RNA significantly reduced vascular endothelial growth factor-triggered PTEN ubiquitination and degradation. In addition, Skp2-mediated ubiquitination depended on the phosphorylation of PTEN by glycogen synthase kinase 3ß. In the mouse model, Skp2 gene deficiency alleviated IMQ-induced psoriasis. Importantly, tamoxifen-induced endothelial-specific Skp2 KO mice developed significantly ameliorated psoriasis with diminished angiogenesis of papillae. Furthermore, topical use of the Skp2 inhibitor C1 effectively prevented the experimental psoriasis. CONCLUSIONS: The Skp2/PTEN axis may play an important role in psoriasis-associated angiogenesis. Thus, targeting Skp2-driven angiogenesis may be a potential approach to treating psoriasis.

Characterization of the Effects of Host p53 and Fos on Gallid Alpha Herpesvirus 1 Replication.

Treatment options for herpesvirus infections that target the interactions between the virus and the host have been identified as promising. Our previous studies have shown that transcription factors p53 and Fos are essential host determinants of gallid alpha herpesvirus 1 (ILTV) infection. The impact of p53 and Fos on ILTV replication has 'not been fully understood yet. Using the sole ILTV-permissive chicken cell line LMH as a model, we examined the effects of hosts p53 and Fos on all phases of ILTV replication, including viral gene transcription, viral genome replication, and infectious virion generation. We achieved this by manipulating the expression of p53 and Fos in LMH cells. Our results demonstrate that the overexpression of either p53 or Fos can promote viral gene transcription at all stages of the temporal cascade of ILTV gene expression, viral genome replication, and infectious virion production, as assessed through absolute quantitative real-time PCR, ILTV-specific RT-qPCR assays, and TCID50 assays. These findings are consistent with our previous analyses of the effects of Fos and p53 knockdowns on virus production and also suggest that both p53 and Fos may be dispensable for ILTV replication. Based on the synergistic effect of regulating ILTV, we further found that there is an interaction between p53 and Fos. Interestingly, we found that p53 also has targeted sites upstream of ICP4, and these sites are very close to the Fos sites. In conclusion, our research offers an in-depth understanding of how hosts p53 and Fos affect ILTV replication. Understanding the processes by which p53 and Fos regulate ILTV infection will be improved by this knowledge, potentially paving the way for the development of novel therapeutics targeting virus-host interactions as a means of treating herpesvirus infections.

Ultraviolet Photodissociation Reveals the Molecular Mechanism of Crown Ether Microsolvation Effect on the Gas-Phase Native-like Protein Structure.

Maintaining the protein high-order structures and interactions during the transition from aqueous solution to gas phase is essential to the structural analysis of native mass spectrometry (nMS). Herein, we systematically interrogate the effects of charge state and crown ether (CE) complexation on the gas-phase native-like protein structure by integrating nMS with 193 nm ultraviolet photodissociation (UVPD). The alterations of photofragmentation yields of protein residues and the charge site distribution of fragment ions reveal the specific sites and sequence regions where charge and CE take effect. Our results exhibit the CE complexation on protonated residues can largely alleviate the structure disruption induced by the intramolecular solvation of charged side chains. The influences of CE complexation and positive charge on gas-phase protein structure exhibit generally opposite trends because the CE microsolvation avoids the hydrogen-bonding formation between the charged side chains with backbone carbonyls. Thus, CE complexation leads to a more stable and native-like protein structure in the gas phase.

P53 maintains gallid alpha herpesvirus 1 replication by direct regulation of nucleotide metabolism and ATP synthesis through its target genes.

P53, a well-known tumor suppressor, has been confirmed to regulate the infection of various viruses, including chicken viruses. Our previous study observed antiviral effect of p53 inhibitor Pifithrin-α (PFT-α) on the infection of avian infectious laryngotracheitis virus (ILTV), one of the major avian viruses economically significant to the poultry industry globally. However, the potential link between this antiviral effect of PFT-α and p53 remains unclear. Using chicken LMH cell line which is permissive for ILTV infection as model, we explore the effects of p53 on ILTV replication and its underlying molecular mechanism based on genome-wide transcriptome analysis of genes with p53 binding sites. The putative p53 target genes were validated by ChIP-qPCR and RT-qPCR. Results demonstrated that, consistent with the effects of PFT-α on ILTV replication we previously reported, knockdown of p53 repressed viral gene transcription and the genome replication of ILTV effectively. The production of infectious virions was also suppressed significantly by p53 knockdown. Further bioinformatic analysis of genes with p53 binding sites revealed extensive repression of these putative p53 target genes enriched in the metabolic processes, especially nucleotide metabolism and ATP synthesis, upon p53 repression by PFT-α in ILTV infected LMH cells. Among these genes, eighteen were involved in nucleotide metabolism and ATP synthesis. Then eight of the 18 genes were selected randomly for validations, all of which were successfully identified as p53 target genes. Our findings shed light on the mechanisms through which p53 controls ILTV infection, meanwhile expand our knowledge of chicken p53 target genes.

Characterization of chicken p53 transcriptional function via parallel genome-wide chromatin occupancy and gene expression analysis.

The tumor suppressor p53, which acts primarily as a transcription factor, can regulate infections from various viruses in chickens. However, the underlying mechanisms of the antiviral functions of chicken p53 (chp53) remain unclear due to the lack of detailed information on its transcriptional regulation. Here, to gain comprehensive insights into chp53 transcriptional regulatory function in a global and unbiased manner, we determined the genome-wide chromatin occupancy of chp53 by chromatin immunoprecipitation, which was followed by sequencing and chp53-mediated gene expression profile by RNA sequencing using chemically immortalized leghorn male hepatoma (LMH) cells with ectopic expression of chp53 as the model. The integrated parallel genome-wide chromatin occupancy and gene expression analysis characterized chp53 chromatin occupancy and identified 754 direct target genes of chp53. Furthermore, functional annotation and cross-species comparative biological analyses revealed the conserved key biological functions and DNA binding motifs of p53 between chickens and humans, which may be due to the consensus amino acid sequence and structure of p53 DNA-binding domains. The present study, to our knowledge, provides the first comprehensive characterization of the chp53 transcriptional regulatory network, and can possibly help to improve our understanding of p53 transcriptional regulatory mechanisms and their antiviral functions in chickens.

PFT-α inhibits gallid alpha herpesvirus 1 replication by repressing host nucleotide metabolism and ATP synthesis.

Therapeutics targeting virus-host interactions have been considered promising strategies for treating herpesvirus infection. Our previous study on avian infectious laryngotracheitis virus (ILTV), an avian herpesvirus economically important to the poultry industry worldwide, identified the small molecule Pifithrin-α (PFT-α) as a potential therapeutic agent. However, the underlying mechanisms of its antiviral function remain largely unknown. Using the ILTV-permissive chicken cell line LMH as the model, we found that PFT-α effectively suppressed the transcription and genome replication of ILTV and greatly reduced the level of infectious virions. Genome-wide transcriptome analysis revealed extensive repression of the metabolic processes of infected cells by PFT-α administration. Further metabolome assays of ILTV-infected cells using liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry suggest host nucleotide metabolism and ATP synthesis as the key targets of PFT-α treatment during its repression of ILTV replication, which was experimentally supported by the reduced transcription of many key enzymes essential to nucleotide metabolism and ATP synthesis. The present study provides insights into the mechanisms by which PFT-α inhibits ILTV infection, which may increase the probability of successful clinical application of this molecule.

Improving the performance of proteomic analysis via VAILase cleavage and 193-nm ultraviolet photodissociation.

Further improving the proteomic identification coverage and reliability is still challenging in the mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomics. Herein, we combine VAILase and trypsin digestion with 193-nm ultraviolet photodissociation (UVPD) and higher-energy collision dissociation (HCD) to improve the performance of bottom-up proteomics. As VAILase exhibits high complementarity to trypsin, the proteome sequence coverage is improved obviously whether with HCD or 193-nm UVPD. The high diversity of fragment ion types produced by UVPD contributes to the improvements of identification reliability for both trypsin- and VAILase-digested peptides with an average XCorr score improvement of 10%.

Comprehensive approaches reveal three cryptic species of genus Nidirana (Anura, Ranidae) from China.

Three cryptic species, which were previously reported as Nidirana adenopleura, are revealed on the basis of comprehensive approaches. Nidirana guangdongensis Lyu, Wan, and YY Wang, sp. nov. is distributed in Nanling Mountains and southern Luoxiao Mountains, Nidirana mangveni Lyu, Qi, and YY Wang, sp. nov. is known from northern Zhejiang, and Nidirana xiangica Lyu and YY Wang, sp. nov. occurs in Xiangjiang River Basin, while the true Nidirana adenopleura is designated from Taiwan Island, northern Fujian, southern Zhejiang, and central Jiangxi. These three new species can be distinguished from all congeners by significant divergences in the mitochondrial 16S and CO1 genes, differences in advertisement calls, and the combination of multiple characteristics. This work indicates that the current records of Nidirana adenopleura should be of a species complex composed of multiple species and have clarified the true identity of N. adenopleura.

Identification of pyridoxal phosphate-modified proteins using mass spectrometry.

RATIONALE: Pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP) cooperates with a variety of enzymes in all organisms for many important biological processes. The development of mass spectrometry-based methodology for high-throughput modification analyses could provide an alternative way for PLP identification. The present study aims to identify PLP modification. METHODS: More PLP site-determining information was obtained by introducing multistage activation (MSA)-assisted collision-induced dissociation (CID). We then utilized immobilized metal ion affinity chromatography (IMAC) with Ti4+ to enrich the PLP peptides. In addition, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) was used to remove the phosphoryl group and further confirm the PLP modification site. RESULTS: MSA was able to greatly enhance the identification and localization of PLP modification. We applied this strategy to analyze PLP-modified proteins in Escherichia coli samples and accurately determine PLP site K270 in tryptophanase. CONCLUSIONS: MSA-assisted CID was used to provide better identification of PLP-modified peptides. Furthermore, tryptophanase with PLP modification at K270 in E. coli was identified with Ti4+ -IMAC enrichment followed by ALP treatment. This method provides a promising alternative for investigating biological functions of PLP-modified proteins.

Enhancing the Mass Spectrometry Sensitivity for Oligonucleotide Detection by Organic Vapor Assisted Electrospray.

There are two challenges in oligonucleotide detection by liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (LC-MS), the serious ion suppression effects caused by ion-pair reagents and the low detection sensitivity in positive mode MS. In this study, highly concentrated alcohol vapors were introduced into an enclosed electrospray ionization chamber, and oligonucleotides could be well detected in negative mode MS even with 100 mM triethylammonium acetate (TEAA) as an ion-pair reagent. The MS signal intensity was improved 600-fold (for standard oligonucleotide dT15) by the isopropanol vapor assisted electrospray, and effective ion-pair LC separation was feasibly coupled with high-sensitive MS detection. Then, oligonucleotides were successfully detected in positive mode MS with few adducts by propanoic acid vapor assisted electrospray. The signal intensity was enhanced more than 10-fold on average compared with adding acids into the electrospray solution. Finally, oligonucleotides and peptides or histones were simultaneously detected in MS with little interference with each other. Our strategy provides a useful alternative for investigating the biological functions of oligonucleotides.

Isolation and characterization of PSI-LHCI super-complex and their sub-complexes from a red alga Cyanidioschyzon merolae.

Photosystem I (PSI)-light-harvesting complex I (LHCI) super-complex and its sub-complexes PSI core and LHCI, were purified from a unicellular red alga Cyanidioschyzon merolae and characterized. PSI-LHCI of C. merolae existed as a monomer with a molecular mass of 580 kDa. Mass spectrometry analysis identified 11 subunits (PsaA, B, C, D, E, F, I, J, K, L, O) in the core complex and three LHCI subunits, CMQ142C, CMN234C, and CMN235C in LHCI, indicating that at least three Lhcr subunits associate with the red algal PSI core. PsaG was not found in the red algae PSI-LHCI, and we suggest that the position corresponding to Lhca1 in higher plant PSI-LHCI is empty in the red algal PSI-LHCI. The PSI-LHCI complex was separated into two bands on native PAGE, suggesting that two different complexes may be present with slightly different protein compositions probably with respective to the numbers of Lhcr subunits. Based on the results obtained, a structural model was proposed for the red algal PSI-LHCI. Furthermore, pigment analysis revealed that the C. merolae PSI-LHCI contained a large amount of zeaxanthin, which is mainly associated with the LHCI complex whereas little zeaxanthin was found in the PSI core. This indicates a unique feature of the carotenoid composition of the Lhcr proteins and may suggest an important role of Zea in the light-harvesting and photoprotection of the red algal PSI-LHCI complex.

Preparation of organic-silica hybrid monolithic columns via crosslinking of functionalized mesoporous carbon nanoparticles for capillary liquid chromatography.

An organic-silica hybrid monolithic capillary column was fabricated by crosslinking (3-aminopropyl)trimethoxysilane (APTMS) modified mesoporous carbon nanoparticles (AP-MCNs) with tetramethoxysilane (TMOS) and n-butyltrimethoxysilane (C4-TriMOS). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, mercury intrusion porosimetry and inverse size-exclusion chromatography characterization proved the successful immobilization of mesoporous carbon nanoparticles (MCNs). The crosslinking of AP-MCNs into the hybrid monolithic matrix has significantly increased the reversed-phase retention of alkylbenzenes and chromatographic performance for small molecules separations in comparison with the neat one without MCNs. The resulting column efficiency of the mesoporous carbon nanoparticle-based butyl-silica hybrid monolithic column (MCN-C4-monolith) was up to ca. 116,600N/m for the capillary liquid chromatography (cLC) separation of butylbenzene. Enhanced performance of proteins separation was achieved on the MCN-C4-monolith in comparison with the butyl-silica hybrid monolithic column without MCN (C4-monolith). The separation of peptides from bovine serum albumin (BSA) digest was carried out on the MCN-C4-monolith by capillary liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (cLC-MS/MS) with protein sequence coverage of 81.9%, suggesting its potential application in proteomics.

Functionalization of hybrid monolithic columns via thiol-ene click reaction for proteomics analysis.

The vinyl-functionalized hybrid monolithic columns (75 and 150µm i.d.) were prepared via sol-gel chemistry of tetramethoxysilane (TMOS) and vinyltrimethoxysilane (VTMS). The content of accessible vinyl groups was further improved after the monolithic column was post-treated with vinyldimethylethoxysilane (VDMES). The surface properties of monolithic columns were tailored via thiol-ene click reaction by using 1-octadecanethiol, sodium 3-mercapto-1-propanesulfonate and 2,2'-(ethylenedioxy)diethanethiol/vinylphosphonic acid, respectively. The preparing octadecyl-functionalized monolithic columns were adopted for proteomics analysis in cLC-MS/MS. A 37-cm-long×75-µm-i.d. monolithic column could identify 3918 unique peptides and 1067 unique proteins in the tryptic digest of proteins from HeLa cells. When a 90-cm-long×75-µm-i.d. monolithic column was used, the numbers of unique peptides and proteins were increased by 82% and 32%, respectively. Furthermore, strong cation exchange (SCX) monolithic columns (4cm in length×150µm i.d.) were also prepared and coupled with the 37-cm-long×75-µm-i.d. octadecyl-functionalized monolithic column for two-dimensional SCX-RPLC-MS/MS analysis, which could identify 17114 unique peptides and 3211 unique proteins.

Electrospray ionization in concentrated acetonitrile vapor improves the performance of mass spectrometry for proteomic analyses.

Suppressing the background interferences and enhancing the analytes signals are long-term goals in high performance electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) analyses. We observed that performing electrospray in the presence of a concentrated acetonitrile atmosphere suppresses background interferences and enhances peptide signals. An enclosed nanoESI source was utilized to provide a stable atmosphere of concentrated acetonitrile vapor for high performance ESI-MS analyses. The median MS signal intensity increased by 5 times for a set of 23 BSA tryptic peptides in direct ESI-MS analysis. Further, the number of reproducibly and precisely quantified peptides could be improved 67% in six replicate label-free quantitative proteome analyses by this strategy.

In Situ and Timed Extraction of Cellular Peptides from Live HeLa Cells by Photo-Switchable Mesoporous Silica Nanocarriers.

In situ and timed extraction of cellular peptides is a great challenge for dynamic and global proteomic investigation of live cells. In this work, a mesoporous silica nanocarrier with photoswitchable off/on coumarin gates (MSNcg) was developed for capturing peptides from the cytosol of living HeLa cells. The MSNcg was constructed from mesoporous silica nanoparticle (MSN) and its subsequent modifications with TAT peptides and coumarin, to endow the features of the size-exclusion effect of the mesoporous silica and the localization of nanocarrier at cytosol by TAT peptide and to control the closing and opening of the coumarin gates by reversible photodimerization and photocleavage. With the pre-endocytosing of MSNcg, 126 cytosol peptides were harvested and identified from living HeLa cells. Moreover, 3 peptides were captured containing dynamic and changeable information. The extraction strategy of using MSNcg exhibited promising potentials in the in situ and dynamic extraction of endogenous peptides and/or proteins from living systems.

Modulating the selectivity of affinity absorbents to multi-phosphopeptides by a competitive substitution strategy.

Although many affinity adsorbents have been developed for phosphopeptides enrichment, high-specifically capturing the multi-phosphopeptides is still a big challenge. Here, we investigated the mechanism of phosphate ion coordination and substitution on affinity adsorbents surfaces and modulated the selectivity of affinity adsorbents to multi-phosphopeptides based on the different capability of mono- and multi-phosphopeptides in competitively substituting the pre-coordinated phosphate ions at strong acidic condition. We demonstrated both the species of pre-coordinated phosphate ions and the substituting conditions played crucial roles in modulating the enrichment selectivity to multi-phosphopeptides, and the pre-coordinated affinity materials with relative more surfaces positive charges exhibited better enrichment efficiency due to the cooperative effect of electrostatic interaction and competitive substitution. Finally, an enrichment selectivity of 85% to multi-phosphopeptides was feasibly achieved with 66% improvement in identification numbers for complex protein sample extracted from HepG2 cells. Data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD004252.

Selective Enrichment of Cysteine-Containing Phosphopeptides for Subphosphoproteome Analysis.

Among the natural amino acids, cysteine is unique since it can form a disulfide bond through oxidation and reduction of sulfhydryl and thus plays a pervasive role in modulation of proteins activities and structures. Crosstalk between phosphorylation and other post-translational modifications has become a recurrent theme in cell signaling regulation. However, the crosstalk between the phosphorylation and the formation and reductive cleavage of disulfide bond has not been investigated so far. To facilitate the study of this crosstalk, it is important to explore the subset of phosphoproteome where phosphorylations are occurred near to cysteine in the protein sequences. In this study, we developed a straightforward sequential enrichment method by combining the thiol affinity chromatography with the immobilized titanium ion affinity chromatography to selectively enrich cysteine-containing phosphopeptides. The high specificity and high sensitivity of this method were demonstrated by analyzing the samples of Jurkat cells. This "divide and conquer" strategy by specific analysis of a subphosphoproteome enables identification of more low abundant phosphosites than the conventional global phosphoproteome approach. Interestingly, amino acid residues surrounding the identified phosphosites were enriched with buried residues (L, V, A, C) while depleted with exposed residues (D, E, R, K). Also, the phosphosites identified by this approach showed a dramatic decrease in locating in disorder regions compared to that identified by conventional global phosphoproteome. Further analysis showed that more proline directed kinases and fewer acidophilic kinases were responsible for the phosphorylation sites of this subphosphoproteome.

Multiplex isotope dimethyl labeling of substrate peptides for high throughput kinase activity assay via quantitative MALDI MS.

A simple, cost-effective and high throughput method was developed for multiplexed kinase activity assay based on the multiplex isotope labeling of designed substrate peptides. This strategy was successfully applied to monitor the time-dependent consumption of substrates and generation of products in the single and multiple substrate systems.

[Effect of the lysine guanidination on proteomic analysis].

The guanidination of lysine side chain was paid great attention in recent years. It plays an important role in qualitative and quantitative proteomics. In this study, based on the results of separated peptides extracted from HeLa cells before and after the guanidination by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), the effect of the guanidination of three different kinds of peptides was systematically analyzed. It was found that the selectivity of the guanidination of the lysine side chain was as high as 96.8%. The ratio of identified peptides with lysine at C-term to all peptides increased from 51.7% to 57.3% and more new peptides were identified, while the ratio of peptides with lysine in the middle or without lysine changed little. Further study on the ratio of b and y ions indicated that there were more y ions of peptides with lysine at C-term after the guanidination. The results proved that the selective conversion of lysine to homoarginine by the guanidination could increase the sensitivity and selectivity of mass spectrum. The increased basicity and ability to sequester proton of lysine produced more y ions fragmentation information, which contributed to more identified peptides. It concluded that the lysine guanidination can improve the coverage of proteomic analysis.