RESUMO
Using proteomics and complexome profiling, we evaluated in a year-long study longitudinal variations in the plasma proteome of kidney failure patients, prior to and after a kidney transplantation. The post-transplant period was complicated by bacterial infections, resulting in dramatic changes in the proteome, attributed to an acute phase response (APR). As positive acute phase proteins (APPs), being elevated upon inflammation, we observed the well-described C-reactive protein and Serum Amyloid A (SAA), but also Fibrinogen, Haptoglobin, Leucine-rich alpha-2-glycoprotein, Lipopolysaccharide-binding protein, Alpha-1-antitrypsin, Alpha-1-antichymotrypsin, S100, and CD14. As negative APPs, being downregulated upon inflammation, we identified the well-documented Serotransferrin and Transthyretin, but added Kallistatin, Heparin cofactor 2, and interalpha-trypsin inhibitor heavy chain H1 and H2 (ITIH1, ITIH2). For the patient with the most severe APR, we performed plasma complexome profiling by SEC-LC-MS on all longitudinal samples. We observed that several plasma proteins displaying alike concentration patterns coelute and form macromolecular complexes. By complexome profiling, we expose how SAA1 and SAA2 become incorporated into high-density lipid particles, replacing largely Apolipoprotein (APO)A1 and APOA4. Overall, our data highlight that the combination of in-depth longitudinal plasma proteome and complexome profiling can shed further light on correlated variations in the abundance of several plasma proteins upon inflammatory events.
Assuntos
Proteínas Sanguíneas , Transplante de Rim , Proteoma , Humanos , Transplante de Rim/efeitos adversos , Proteoma/análise , Proteoma/metabolismo , Estudos Longitudinais , Proteínas Sanguíneas/análise , Proteínas Sanguíneas/metabolismo , Proteínas de Fase Aguda/metabolismo , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Masculino , Proteômica/métodos , Feminino , Insuficiência Renal/sangue , Reação de Fase Aguda/sangue , AdultoRESUMO
Staphylococcus aureus is a major cause of infections worldwide, and infection results in a variety of diseases. As of no surprise, protein phosphorylation is an important game player in signaling cascades and has been shown to be involved in S. aureus virulence. Albeit long neglected, eukaryotic-type serine/threonine kinases in S. aureus have been implicated in this complex signaling cascades. Due to the substoichiometric nature of protein phosphorylation and a lack of suitable analysis tools, the knowledge of these cascades is, however, to date, still limited. Here, were apply an optimized protocol for efficient phosphopeptide enrichment via Fe3+-IMAC followed by LC-MS/MS to get a better understanding of the impact of protein phosphorylation on the complex signaling networks involved in pathogenicity. By profiling a serine/threonine kinase and phosphatase mutant from a methicillin-resistant S. aureus mutant library, we generated the most comprehensive phosphoproteome data set of S. aureus to date, aiding a better understanding of signaling in bacteria. With the identification of 3800 class I p-sites, we were able to increase the number of identifications by more than 21 times compared with recent literature. In addition, we were able to identify 74 downstream targets of the only reported eukaryotic-type Ser/Thr kinase of the S. aureus strain USA300, Stk1. This work allowed an extensive analysis of the bacterial phosphoproteome and indicates that Ser/Thr kinase signaling is far more abundant than previously anticipated in S. aureus.
Assuntos
Proteínas de Bactérias/metabolismo , Fosfopeptídeos/metabolismo , Fosfoproteínas/metabolismo , Staphylococcus aureus/metabolismo , Bacillus subtilis/metabolismo , Proteínas de Bactérias/genética , Fosfopeptídeos/genética , Fosfoproteínas/genética , Fosforilação , Proteínas Quinases/metabolismo , Proteoma , Staphylococcus aureus/genéticaRESUMO
Ion mobility separates molecules in the gas-phase based on their physico-chemical properties, providing information about their size as collisional cross-sections. The timsTOF Pro combines trapped ion mobility with a quadrupole, collision cell and a TOF mass analyzer, to probe ions at high speeds with on-the-fly fragmentation. Here, we show that on this platform ion mobility is beneficial for cross-linking MS (XL-MS). Cross-linking reagents covalently link amino acids in proximity, resulting in peptide pairs after proteolytic digestion. These cross-linked peptides are typically present at low abundance in the background of normal peptides, which can partially be resolved by using enrichable cross-linking reagents. Even with a very efficient enrichable cross-linking reagent, like PhoX, the analysis of cross-linked peptides is still hampered by the co-enrichment of peptides connected to a partially hydrolyzed reagent - termed mono-linked peptides. For experiments aiming to uncover protein-protein interactions these are unwanted byproducts. Here, we demonstrate that gas-phase separation by ion mobility enables the separation of mono-linked peptides from cross-linked peptide pairs. A clear partition between these two classes is observed at a CCS of 500 Å2 and a monoisotopic mass of 2 kDa, which can be used for targeted precursor selection. A total of 50-70% of the mono-linked peptides are prevented from sequencing, allowing the analysis to focus on sequencing the relevant cross-linked peptide pairs. In applications to both simple proteins and protein mixtures and a complete highly complex lysate this approach provides a substantial increase in detected cross-linked peptides.
Assuntos
Reagentes de Ligações Cruzadas/química , Espectrometria de Massas , Células HeLa , Humanos , Íons , Peptídeos/química , Padrões de ReferênciaRESUMO
Human milk is a vital biofluid containing a myriad of molecular components to ensure an infant's best start at a healthy life. One key component of human milk is ß-casein, a protein which is not only a structural constituent of casein micelles but also a source of bioactive, often antimicrobial, peptides contributing to milk's endogenous peptidome. Importantly, post-translational modifications (PTMs) like phosphorylation and glycosylation typically affect the function of proteins and peptides; however, here our understanding of ß-casein is critically limited. To uncover the scope of proteoforms and endogenous peptidoforms we utilized mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) to achieve in-depth longitudinal profiling of ß-casein from human milk, studying two donors across 16 weeks of lactation. We not only observed changes in ß-casein's known protein and endogenous peptide phosphorylation, but also in previously unexplored O-glycosylation. This newly discovered PTM of ß-casein may be important as it resides on known ß-casein-derived antimicrobial peptide sequences.
Assuntos
Caseínas/metabolismo , Glicopeptídeos/química , Lactação/metabolismo , Leite Humano/química , Processamento de Proteína Pós-Traducional/fisiologia , Proteoma/química , Aleitamento Materno , Cromatografia Líquida/métodos , Feminino , Glicosilação , Voluntários Saudáveis , Humanos , Lactente , Estudos Longitudinais , Fosforilação , Espectrometria de Massas em Tandem/métodosRESUMO
The increased speed and sensitivity in mass spectrometry-based proteomics has encouraged its use in biomedical research in recent years. Large-scale detection of proteins in cells, tissues, and whole organisms yields highly complex quantitative data, the analysis of which poses significant challenges. Standardized proteomic workflows are necessary to ensure automated, sharable, and reproducible proteomics analysis. Likewise, standardized data processing workflows are also essential for the overall reproducibility of results. To this purpose, we developed PaDuA, a Python package optimized for the processing and analysis of (phospho)proteomics data. PaDuA provides a collection of tools that can be used to build scripted workflows within Jupyter Notebooks to facilitate bioinformatics analysis by both end-users and developers.
Assuntos
Análise de Dados , Fosfoproteínas/análise , Proteômica/métodos , Software , Biologia Computacional/métodos , Bases de Dados Genéticas , Padrões de Referência , Fluxo de TrabalhoRESUMO
Protein interactions enable much more complex behavior than the sum of the individual protein parts would suggest and represents a level of biological complexity requiring full understanding when unravelling cellular processes. Cross-linking mass spectrometry has emerged as an attractive approach to study these interactions, and recent advances in mass spectrometry and data analysis software have enabled the identification of thousands of cross-links from a single experiment. The resulting data complexity is, however, difficult to understand and requires interactive software tools. Even though solutions are available, these represent an agglomerate of possibilities, and each features its own input format, often forcing manual conversion. Here we present Cross-ID, a visualization platform that links directly into the output of XlinkX for Proteome Discoverer but also plays well with other platforms by supporting a user-controllable text-file importer. The platform includes features like grouping, spectral viewer, gene ontology (GO) enrichment, post-translational modification (PTM) visualization, domains and secondary structure mapping, data set comparison, previsualization overlap check, and more. Validation of detected cross-links is available for proteins and complexes with known structure or for protein complexes through the DisVis online platform ( http://milou.science.uu.nl/cgi/services/DISVIS/disvis/ ). Graphs are exportable in PDF format, and data sets can be exported in tab-separated text files for evaluation through other software.
Assuntos
Análise de Dados , Espectrometria de Massas/métodos , Mapas de Interação de Proteínas , Proteômica/métodos , Software , Interface Usuário-ComputadorRESUMO
The question whether and which nonhuman peptides or proteins are present in human milk was raised many decades ago. However, due to cross-reactivity or nonspecific antibody recognition, the accuracy of detection by immunochemical methods has been a concern. Additionally, the relative low-abundance of nonhuman peptides/proteins in the complex milk sample makes them a challenging target to detect. Here, by deep proteome profiling, we detected several nonhuman peptides, which could be grouped as nonhuman proteins. We next estimated their concentration in human milk by combining data-dependent shotgun proteomics and parallel reaction monitoring. First, we fractionated human milk at the protein level and were able to detect 1577 human proteins. Additionally, we identified 109 nonhuman peptides, of which 71 were grouped into 36 nonhuman proteins. In the next step, we targeted 37 nonhuman peptides and nine of them could be repeatedly quantified in human milk samples. Peptides/proteins originating from bovine milk products were the dominant nonhuman proteins observed, notably bovine caseins (α-S1-, α-S2-, ß-, κ-caseins) and ß-lactoglobulin. The method we present here can be expanded to investigate more about nonhuman peptides and proteins in human milk and give a better understanding of how human milk plays a role in allergy prevention.
Assuntos
Proteínas do Leite/análise , Leite Humano/química , Proteômica/métodos , Animais , Caseínas/análise , Bovinos , Humanos , Lactoglobulinas/análise , Peptídeos/análiseRESUMO
Recent technological advances have made it possible to investigate the hitherto rather elusive protein histidine phosphorylation. However, confident site-specific localization of protein histidine phosphorylation remains challenging. Here, we address this problem, presenting a mass-spectrometry-based approach that outperforms classical HCD fragmentation without compromising sensitivity. We use the phosphohistidine immonium ion as a diagnostic tool as well as ETD-based fragmentation techniques to achieve unambiguous identification and localization of histidine-phosphorylation sites. The work presented here will allow more confident investigation of the phosphohistidine proteome to reveal the roles of histidine phosphorylation in cellular signaling events.
Assuntos
Histidina , Fosfoproteínas/química , Fosfoproteínas/metabolismo , Proteômica/métodos , Sequência de Aminoácidos , Espectrometria de MassasRESUMO
There is a growing interest for investigating endogenous peptides from human biofluids which may provide yet unknown functional benefits or provide an early indication of disease states as potential biomarkers. A major technical bottleneck in the investigation of endogenous peptides from body fluids, e.g., serum, urine, saliva, and milk, is that each of these fluids seems to require unique workflows for peptide extraction and analysis. Thus, protocols optimized for serum cannot be directly translated to milk. One biofluid that is readily available, but which has not been extensively explored, is human milk, whose analysis could contribute to our understanding of the immune development of the newborn infant. Due to the occurrence of highly abundant lipids, proteins, and saccharides, milk peptidomics requires dedicated sample preparation steps. The aim of this study was to develop a time and cost-efficient workflow for the analysis of the human milk peptidome, for which we compared peptide extraction methodologies and peptide fragmentation methods. A method using strong acid protein precipitation and analysis by collision-induced dissociation fragmentation was found to be superior to all other test methods, allowing us qualitative and quantitative detection of about 4000 endogenous human milk peptides in a total analysis time of just 18 h.
Assuntos
Proteínas do Leite/análise , Leite Humano/química , Peptídeos/análise , Sequência de Aminoácidos , Precipitação Química , Cromatografia Líquida de Alta Pressão/métodos , Humanos , Extração Líquido-Líquido/métodos , Fragmentos de Peptídeos/análise , Proteômica/métodos , Espectrometria de Massas em Tandem/métodos , Fluxo de TrabalhoRESUMO
A key step in shotgun proteomics is the digestion of proteins into peptides amenable for mass spectrometry. Tryptic peptides can be readily sequenced and identified by collision-induced dissociation (CID) or higher-energy collisional dissociation (HCD) because the fragmentation rules are well-understood. Here, we investigate LysargiNase, a perfect trypsin mirror protease, because it cleaves equally specific at arginine and lysine residues, albeit at the N-terminal end. LysargiNase peptides are therefore practically tryptic-like in length and sequence except that following ESI, the two protons are now both positioned at the N-terminus. Here, we compare side-by-side the chromatographic separation properties, gas-phase fragmentation characteristics, and (phospho)proteome sequence coverage of tryptic (i.e., (X)nK/R) and LysargiNase (i.e., K/R(X)n) peptides using primarily electron-transfer dissociation (ETD) and, for comparison, HCD. We find that tryptic and LysargiNase peptides fragment nearly as mirror images. For LysargiNase predominantly N-terminal peptide ions (c-ions (ETD) and b-ions (HCD)) are formed, whereas for trypsin, C-terminal fragment ions dominate (z-ions (ETD) and y-ions (HCD)) in a homologous mixture of complementary ions. Especially during ETD, LysargiNase peptides fragment into low-complexity but information-rich sequence ladders. Trypsin and LysargiNase chart distinct parts of the proteome, and therefore, the combined use of these enzymes will benefit a more in-depth and reliable analysis of (phospho)proteomes.
Assuntos
Elétrons , Metaloproteases/química , Fragmentos de Peptídeos/análise , Fosfoproteínas/química , Prótons , Tripsina/química , Sequência de Aminoácidos , Sítios de Ligação , Cinética , Ligação Proteica , Conformação Proteica em alfa-Hélice , Conformação Proteica em Folha beta , Domínios Proteicos , Proteólise , Proteômica/métodos , Análise de Sequência de Proteína , TermodinâmicaRESUMO
Mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomics workflows can crudely be classified into two distinct regimes, targeting either relatively small peptides (i.e., 0.7 kDa < Mw < 3.0 kDa) or small to medium sized intact proteins (i.e., 10 kDa < Mw < 30 kDa), respectively, termed bottom-up and top-down proteomics. Recently, a niche has started to be explored covering the analysis of middle-range peptides (i.e., 3.0 kDa < Mw < 10 kDa), aptly termed middle-down proteomics. Although middle-down proteomics can follow, in principle, a modular workflow similar to that of bottom-up proteomics, we hypothesized that each of these modules would benefit from targeted optimization to improve its overall performance in the analysis of middle-range sized peptides. Hence, to generate middle-range sized peptides from cellular lysates, we explored the use of the proteases Asp-N and Glu-C and a nonenzymatic acid induced cleavage. To increase the depth of the proteome, a strong cation exchange (SCX) separation, carefully tuned to improve the separation of longer peptides, combined with reversed phase-liquid chromatography (RP-LC) using columns packed with material possessing a larger pore size, was used. Finally, after evaluating the combination of potentially beneficial MS settings, we also assessed the peptide fragmentation techniques, including higher-energy collision dissociation (HCD), electron-transfer dissociation (ETD), and electron-transfer combined with higher-energy collision dissociation (EThcD), for characterization of middle-range sized peptides. These combined improvements clearly improve the detection and sequence coverage of middle-range peptides and should guide researchers to explore further how middle-down proteomics may lead to an improved proteome coverage, beneficial for, among other things, the enhanced analysis of (co-occurring) post-translational modifications.
Assuntos
Peptídeo Hidrolases/metabolismo , Peptídeos/análise , Proteômica , Células HeLa , Humanos , Espectrometria de Massas , Tamanho da Partícula , Peptídeos/metabolismoRESUMO
Protein O-GlcNAcylation is a reversible post-translational signaling modification of nucleocytoplasmic proteins that is essential for embryonic development in bilateria. In a search for a reductionist model to study O-GlcNAc signaling, we discovered the presence of functional O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT), O-GlcNAcase (OGA), and nucleocytoplasmic protein O-GlcNAcylation in the most basal extant animal, the placozoan Trichoplax adhaerens. We show via enzymatic characterization of Trichoplax OGT/OGA and genetic rescue experiments in Drosophila melanogaster that these proteins possess activities/functions similar to their bilaterian counterparts. The acquisition of O-GlcNAc signaling by metazoa may have facilitated the rapid and complex signaling mechanisms required for the evolution of multicellular organisms.
Assuntos
N-Acetilglucosaminiltransferases/metabolismo , Placozoa/enzimologia , Acetilglucosamina/química , Animais , Animais Geneticamente Modificados , Núcleo Celular/enzimologia , Cruzamentos Genéticos , Citoplasma/enzimologia , Drosophila melanogaster , Células HEK293 , Humanos , Concentração Inibidora 50 , Dados de Sequência Molecular , Processamento de Proteína Pós-Traducional , Estrutura Terciária de Proteína , Interferência de RNA , Transdução de SinaisRESUMO
Quality control is increasingly recognized as a crucial aspect of mass spectrometry based proteomics. Several recent papers discuss relevant parameters for quality control and present applications to extract these from the instrumental raw data. What has been missing, however, is a standard data exchange format for reporting these performance metrics. We therefore developed the qcML format, an XML-based standard that follows the design principles of the related mzML, mzIdentML, mzQuantML, and TraML standards from the HUPO-PSI (Proteomics Standards Initiative). In addition to the XML format, we also provide tools for the calculation of a wide range of quality metrics as well as a database format and interconversion tools, so that existing LIMS systems can easily add relational storage of the quality control data to their existing schema. We here describe the qcML specification, along with possible use cases and an illustrative example of the subsequent analysis possibilities. All information about qcML is available at http://code.google.com/p/qcml.
Assuntos
Espectrometria de Massas/normas , Software , Bases de Dados de Proteínas , Linguagens de Programação , Proteômica/normas , Controle de QualidadeRESUMO
Outcomes of comparative evaluations of enrichment methods for phosphopeptides depend highly on the experimental protocols used, the operator, the source of the affinity matrix, and the samples analyzed. Here, we attempt such a comparative study exploring a very large synthetic library containing thousands of serine, threonine, and tyrosine phosphorylated peptides, being present in roughly equal abundance, along with their nonphosphorylated counterparts, and use an optimized protocol for enrichment by TiO2 and Ti(4+)-immobilized metal affinity chromatography (IMAC) by a single operator. Surprisingly, our data reveal that there are minimal differences between enrichment of phosphopeptides by TiO2 and Ti(4+)-IMAC when considering biochemical and biophysical parameters such as peptide length, sequence surrounding the site, hydrophobicity, and nature of the amino acid phosphorylated. Similar results were obtained when evaluating a tryptic digest of a cellular lysate, representing a more natural source of phosphopeptides. All the data presented are available via ProteomeXchange with the identifier PXD000759.
Assuntos
Cromatografia de Afinidade/métodos , Fosfopeptídeos/análise , Titânio/química , Sequência de Aminoácidos , Células HeLa , Humanos , Dados de Sequência Molecular , Biblioteca de Peptídeos , Fosfopeptídeos/isolamento & purificação , Fosforilação , Espectrometria de Massas em TandemRESUMO
The original PRIDE Converter tool greatly simplified the process of submitting mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomics data to the PRIDE database. However, after much user feedback, it was noted that the tool had some limitations and could not handle several user requirements that were now becoming commonplace. This prompted us to design and implement a whole new suite of tools that would build on the successes of the original PRIDE Converter and allow users to generate submission-ready, well-annotated PRIDE XML files. The PRIDE Converter 2 tool suite allows users to convert search result files into PRIDE XML (the format needed for performing submissions to the PRIDE database), generate mzTab skeleton files that can be used as a basis to submit quantitative and gel-based MS data, and post-process PRIDE XML files by filtering out contaminants and empty spectra, or by merging several PRIDE XML files together. All the tools have both a graphical user interface that provides a dialog-based, user-friendly way to convert and prepare files for submission, as well as a command-line interface that can be used to integrate the tools into existing or novel pipelines, for batch processing and power users. The PRIDE Converter 2 tool suite will thus become a cornerstone in the submission process to PRIDE and, by extension, to the ProteomeXchange consortium of MS-proteomics data repositories.
Assuntos
Bases de Dados de Proteínas , Processamento Eletrônico de Dados , Espectrometria de Massas , Proteômica , Proteoma/análise , Software , Design de Software , Interface Usuário-ComputadorRESUMO
Cell cycle transitions result from global changes in protein phosphorylation states triggered by cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs). To understand how this complexity produces an ordered and rapid cellular reorganisation, we generated a high-resolution map of changing phosphosites throughout unperturbed early cell cycles in single Xenopus embryos, derived the emergent principles through systems biology analysis, and tested them by biophysical modelling and biochemical experiments. We found that most dynamic phosphosites share two key characteristics: they occur on highly disordered proteins that localise to membraneless organelles, and are CDK targets. Furthermore, CDK-mediated multisite phosphorylation can switch homotypic interactions of such proteins between favourable and inhibitory modes for biomolecular condensate formation. These results provide insight into the molecular mechanisms and kinetics of mitotic cellular reorganisation.
Assuntos
Proteínas de Ciclo Celular , Quinases Ciclina-Dependentes , Quinases Ciclina-Dependentes/metabolismo , Fosforilação , Proteínas de Ciclo Celular/metabolismo , Ciclo Celular , Quinase 2 Dependente de Ciclina/metabolismoRESUMO
Coronary atherosclerosis represents the major cause of death in Western societies. As atherosclerosis typically progresses over years without giving rise to clinical symptoms, biomarkers are urgently needed to identify patients at risk. Over the past decade, evidence has accumulated suggesting cross-talk between the diseased vasculature and cells of the innate immune system. We therefore employed proteomics to search for biomarkers associated with severe atherosclerotic coronary lumen stenosis in circulating leukocytes. In a two-phase approach, we first performed in-depth quantitative profiling of the granulocyte proteome on a small pooled cohort of patients suffering from chronic (sub)total coronary occlusion and matched control patients using stable isotope peptide labeling, two-dimensional LC-MS/MS and data-dependent decision tree fragmentation. Over 3000 proteins were quantified, among which 57 candidate biomarker proteins remained after stringent filtering. The most promising biomarker candidates were subsequently verified in the individual samples of the discovery cohort using label-free, single-run LC-MS/MS analysis, as well as in an independent verification cohort of 25 patients with total coronary occlusion (CTO) and 19 matched controls. Our data reveal bactericidal/permeability-increasing protein (BPI) as a promising biomarker for severe atherosclerotic coronary stenosis, being down-regulated in circulating granulocytes of CTO patients.
Assuntos
Peptídeos Catiônicos Antimicrobianos/sangue , Biomarcadores/sangue , Doença da Artéria Coronariana/sangue , Estenose Coronária/sangue , Granulócitos/metabolismo , Proteoma , Proteínas Sanguíneas , Separação Celular , Estudos de Coortes , HumanosRESUMO
We present a straightforward method to enrich phosphopeptides with multiple basic residues, an under-represented class in common enrichment strategies. Our method is based on a two-dimensional strong cation exchange (SCX) strategy, operating at two different acidic pHs, enabling both separation and enrichment of different classes of phosphopeptides. The principle of enrichment is based on the change of net charge of phosphorylated peptides under strong acidic conditions in the second SCX, whereas the net charge of regular peptides remains unchanged, thus enabling separation based on net charge. Application of our tandem SCX approach to a modest amount of human cells allowed the identification of over 10,000 unique "basic" phosphopeptides of which many represent putative targets of basophilic kinases.
Assuntos
Cátions/química , Cromatografia por Troca Iônica , Fosfopeptídeos/química , Fosfopeptídeos/isolamento & purificação , Cromatografia Líquida , Células HeLa , Humanos , Espectrometria de Massas por Ionização e Dessorção a Laser Assistida por Matriz , Espectrometria de Massas em TandemRESUMO
Increasing peptide sequence coverage by tandem mass spectrometry improves confidence in database search-based peptide identification and facilitates mapping of post-translational modifications and de novo sequencing. Inducing 2-fold fragmentation by combining electron-transfer and higher-energy collision dissociation (EThcD) generates dual fragment ion series and facilitates extensive peptide backbone fragmentation. After an initial electron-transfer dissociation step, all ions including the unreacted precursor ions are subjected to collision induced dissociation which yields b/y- and c/z-type fragment ions in a single spectrum. This new fragmentation scheme provides richer spectra and substantially increases the peptide sequence coverage and confidence in peptide identification.
Assuntos
Fragmentos de Peptídeos/química , Espectrometria de Massas em Tandem/métodos , Sequência de Aminoácidos , Animais , Transporte de Elétrons , Células HeLa , Humanos , TermodinâmicaRESUMO
A major problem in the analysis of mass spectrometry-based proteomics data is the vast growth of data volume, caused by improvements in sequencing speed of mass spectrometers. This growth affects analysis times and storage requirements so severely that many analysis tools are no longer able to cope with the increased file sizes. We present a tool, RockerBox, to address size problems for search results obtained from the widely used Mascot search engine. RockerBox allows for a fast evaluation of large result files by means of a number of commonly accepted metrics that can often be viewed through charts. Moreover, result files can be filtered without altering their informative content, based on a number of FDR calculation methods. File sizes can be reduced dramatically, often to a tenth of their original size, thus relaxing the need for storage and computation power, and boosting analysis of current and future proteomics experiments.