Early stages of insulin fibrillogenesis examined with ion mobility mass spectrometry and molecular modelling.

A prevalent type of protein misfolding causes the formation of ß-sheet-rich structures known as amyloid fibrils. Research into the mechanisms of fibril formation has implications for both disease prevention and nanoscale templating technologies. This investigation into the aggregation of insulin utilises ion mobility mass spectrometry coupled with molecular modelling to identify and characterise oligomers formed during the 'lag' phase that precedes fibril growth. High resolution mass spectrometry and collision induced dissociation is used to unequivocally assign species as m/z coincident multimers or confomers, providing a robust analytical approach that supports the use of molecular dynamics to atomistically resolve the observed oligomers. We show that insulin oligomerises to form species In where 2 ≤ n ≤ 12 and within this set of oligomers we delineate over 60 distinct conformations, the most dominant of which are compact species. Modelling trained with experimental data suggests that the dominant compact dimers are enriched in ß-sheet secondary structure and dominated by hydrophobic interactions, and provides a linear relationship between Rg and collision cross section. This approach provides detailed insight to the early stages of assembly of this much studied amyloidogenic protein, and can be used to inform models of nucleation and growth.

A kinetic study of ovalbumin fibril formation: the importance of fragmentation and end-joining.

The ability to control the morphologies of biomolecular aggregates is a central objective in the study of self-assembly processes. The development of predictive models offers the surest route for gaining such control. Under the right conditions, proteins will self-assemble into fibers that may rearrange themselves even further to form diverse structures, including the formation of closed loops. In this study, chicken egg white ovalbumin is used as a model for the study of fibril loops. By monitoring the kinetics of self-assembly, we demonstrate that loop formation is a consequence of end-to-end association between protein fibrils. A model of fibril formation kinetics, including end-joining, is developed and solved, showing that end-joining has a distinct effect on the growth of fibrillar mass density (which can be measured experimentally), establishing a link between self-assembly kinetics and the underlying growth mechanism. These results will enable experimentalists to infer fibrillar morphologies from an appropriate analysis of self-assembly kinetic data.

Conformational dynamics of α-synuclein: insights from mass spectrometry.

The aggregation and deposition of α-synuclein in Lewy bodies is associated with the progression of Parkinson's disease. Here, Mass Spectrometry (MS) is used in combination with Ion Mobility (IM), chemical crosslinking and Electron Capture Dissociation (ECD) to probe transient structural elements of α-synuclein and its oligomers. Each of these reveals different aspects of the conformational heterogeneity of this 14 kDa protein. IM-MS analysis indicates that this protein is highly disordered, presenting in positive ionisation mode with a charge state range of 5 ≤z≤ 21 for the monomer, along with a collision cross section range of ∼1600 Å(2). Chemical crosslinking applied in conjunction with IM-MS captures solution phase conformational families enabling comparison with those exhibited in the gas phase. Crosslinking IM-MS identifies 3 distinct conformational families, Compact (∼1200 Å(2)), Extended (∼1500 Å(2)) and Unfolded (∼2350 Å(2)) which correlate with those observed in solution. ECD-Fourier Transform-Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry (ECD-FT-ICR MS) highlights the effect of pH on α-synuclein structure, identifying the conformational flexibility of the N and C termini as well as providing evidence for structure in the core and at times the C terminus. A hypothesis is proposed for the variability displayed in the structural rearrangement of α-synuclein following changes in solution pH. Following a 120 h aggregation time course, we observe an increase in the ratio of dimer to monomer, but no gross conformational changes in either, beyond the significant variations that are observed day-to-day from this conformationally dynamic protein.

A mass-spectrometry-based framework to define the extent of disorder in proteins.

In the past decade, mass spectrometry (MS) coupled with electrospray ionization (ESI) has been extensively applied to the study of intact proteins and their complexes, often without the requirement of labels. Solvent conditions (for example, pH, ionic strength, and concentration) affect the observed desolvated species; the ease of altering such extrinsic factors renders ESI-MS an appropriate method by which to consider the range of conformational states that proteins may occupy, including natively folded, disordered and amyloid. Rotationally averaged collision cross sections of the ionized forms of proteins, provided by the combination of mass spectrometry and ion mobility (IM-MS), are also instructive in exploring conformational landscapes in the absence of solvent. Here, we ask the following question: "If the only technique you had was ESI-IM-MS, what information would it provide on the structural preferences of an unknown protein?" We have selected 20 different proteins, both monomeric and multimeric, ranging in mass from 2846 Da (melittin) to 150 kDa (Immunoglobulin G), and we consider how they are presented to a mass spectrometer under different solvent conditions. Mass spectrometery allows us to distinguish which of these proteins are structured (melittin, human beta defensin 1, truncated human lymphotactin, Cytochrome C, holo hemoglobin-α, ovalbumin, human transthyretin, avidin, bovine serum albumin, concanavalin, human serum amyloid protein, and Immunoglobulin G) from those that contain at least some regions of disorder (human lymphotactin, N-terminal p53, α-Synuclein, N-terminal MDM2, and p53 DNA binding domain) or denatured due to solvent conditions (ubiquitin, apo hemoglobin-α, apo hemoglobin-ß) by considering two experimental parameters: the range of charge states occupied by the protein (Δz) and the range of collision cross sections in which the protein is observed (ΔCCS). We also provide a simple model to predict the difference between the collision cross sections of the most compact and the most extended form of a given protein, based on the volume of the amino acids it contains. We compare these calculated parameters with experimental values. In addition, we consider the occupancy of conformations based on the intensities of ions in the mass spectra. This allows us to qualitatively predict the potential energy landscape of each protein. Our empirical approach to assess order or disorder is shown to be more accurate than the use of charge hydropathy plots, which are frequently used to predict disorder, and could provide an initial route to characterization. Finally, we present an ESI-IM-MS methodology to determine if a given protein is structured or disordered.

Unusual ECD fragmentation attributed to gas-phase helix formation in a conformationally dynamic peptide.

The helix-forming character of a model decapeptide, L4PL4K, is determined in the absence of solvent using ion mobility mass spectrometry, electron capture dissociation and molecular mechanics simulations. Unusual ECD fragmentation patterns dominated by b ions are attributed to helix formation upon electron capture and as a signature of conformational dynamics.

Effects of drift gas on collision cross sections of a protein standard in linear drift tube and traveling wave ion mobility mass spectrometry.

There has been a significant increase in the use of ion mobility mass spectrometry (IM-MS) to investigate conformations of proteins and protein complexes following electrospray ionization. Investigations which employ traveling wave ion mobility mass spectrometry (TW IM-MS) instrumentation rely on the use of calibrants to convert the arrival times of ions to collision cross sections (CCS) providing "hard numbers" of use to structural biology. It is common to use nitrogen as the buffer gas in TW IM-MS instruments and to calibrate by extrapolating from CCS measured in helium via drift tube (DT) IM-MS. In this work, both DT and TW IM-MS instruments are used to investigate the effects of different drift gases (helium, neon, nitrogen, and argon) on the transport of multiply charged ions of the protein myoglobin, frequently used as a standard in TW IM-MS studies. Irrespective of the drift gas used, recorded mass spectra are found to be highly similar. In contrast, the recorded arrival time distributions and the derived CCS differ greatly. At low charge states (7 ≤ z ≤ 11) where the protein is compact, the CCS scale with the polarizability of the gas; this is also the case for higher charge states (12 ≤ z ≤ 22) where the protein is more unfolded for the heavy gases (neon, argon, and nitrogen) but not the case for helium. This is here interpreted as a different conformational landscape being sampled by the lighter gas and potentially attributable to increased field heating by helium. Under nanoelectrospray ionization (nESI) conditions, where myoglobin is sprayed from an aqueous solution buffered to pH 6.8 with 20 mM ammonium acetate, in the DT IM-MS instrument, each buffer gas can yield a different arrival time distribution (ATD) for any given charge state.

Evidence for α-helices in the gas phase: a case study using Melittin from honey bee venom.

Gas phase methodologies are increasingly used to study the structure of proteins and peptides. A challenge to the mass spectrometrist is to preserve the structure of the system of interest intact and unaltered from solution into the gas phase. Small peptides are very flexible and can present a number of conformations in solution. In this work we examine Melittin a 26 amino acid peptide that forms the active component of honey bee venom. Melittin is haemolytic and has been shown to form an α-helical tetrameric structure by X-ray crystallography [M. Gribskov et al., The RCSB Protein Data Bank, 1990] and to be helical in high concentrations of methanol. Here we use ion mobility mass spectrometry, molecular dynamics and gas-phase HDX to probe its structure in the gas phase and specifically interrogate whether the helical form can be preserved. All low energy calculated structures possess some helicity. In our experiments we examine the peptide following nano-ESI from solutions with varying methanol content. Ion mobility gives collision cross sections (CCS) that compare well with values found from molecular modelling and from other reported structures, but with inconclusive results regarding the effect of solvent. There is only a slight increase in CCS with charge, showing minimal coloumbically driven unfolding. HDX supports preservation of some helical content into the gas phase and again shows little difference in the exchange rates of species sprayed from different solvents. The [M + 3H](3+) species has two exchanging populations both of which exhibit faster exchange rates than observed for the [M + 2H](2+) species. One interpretation for these results is that the time spent being analysed is sufficient for this peptide to form a helix in the 'ultimate' hydrophobic environment of a vacuum.

Binding a heparin derived disaccharide to defensin inspired peptides: insights to antimicrobial inhibition from gas-phase measurements.

Due to the ubiquitous presence of polysaccharide moieties on bacterial surfaces, it is hypothesised that a peptide-saccharide interaction plays a key role during the recognition of invading microorganisms by beta-defensins. We have employed different gas-phase methods to investigate these interactions. This manuscript describes: an MS-based titration assay measuring the gas-phase binding of ten beta-defensin related peptides to a sulfated disaccharide derived from heparin (HDD); ion mobility-mass spectrometry-determined collision cross sections of 3 peptides (both free and binding HDD); and results from molecular modelling with the aim of reconciling some of our experimental observations. We observe a clear qualitative correlation between the antimicrobial activity of several beta-defensins and related peptides and their gas-phase binding to a heparin-derived disaccharide (HDD). Four of the ten peptides show >100 micromolar K(d) values with HDD, and no bacteriocidal activity, illustrating that HDD binding correlates with peptide antimicrobial activity. For five of the remaining six peptides, bacteriocidal activity was re-measured with HDD present. For the peptides containing intramolecular disulfide bonds in two out of five, bacteriocidal activity was reduced approximately 10-fold; for the remaining three peptides, which lack intramolecular disulfide bonds, HDD addition had little effect on bacteriocidal activity. The latter results are suggested to arise from the greater degree of flexibility imparted by the removal of disulfide bonds giving the peptides the ability to envelope HDD and assume a "defensin-like" fold. Thus gas-phase analysis is put forward as a powerful tool for assessing the properties of antimicrobial peptides providing valuable insights in the mechanism of antimicrobial inhibition.

Peptide fragments of a beta-defensin derivative with potent bactericidal activity.

Beta-defensins are known to be both antimicrobial and able to chemoattract various immune cells. Although the sequences of paralogous genes are not highly conserved, the core defensin structure is retained. Defb14-1C(V) has bactericidal activity similar to that of its parent peptide (murine beta-defensin Defb14) despite all but one of the canonical six cysteines being replaced with alanines. The 23-amino-acid N-terminal half of Defb14-1C(V) is a potent antimicrobial while the C-terminal half is not. Here, we use a library of peptide derivatives to demonstrate that the antimicrobial activity can be localized to a particular region. Overlapping fragments of the N-terminal region were tested for their ability to kill Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. We demonstrate that the most N-terminal fragments (amino acids 1 to 10 and 6 to 17) are potent antimicrobials against Gram-negative bacteria whereas fragments based on sequence more C terminal than amino acid 13 have very poor activity against both Gram-positive and -negative types. We further test a series of N-terminal deletion peptides in both their monomeric and dimeric forms. We find that bactericidal activity is lost against both Gram types as the deletion region increases, with the point at which this occurs varying between bacterial strains. The dimeric form of the peptides is more resistant to the peptide deletions, but this is not due just to increased charge. Our results indicate that the primary sequence, together with structure, is essential in the bactericidal action of this beta-defensin derivative peptide and importantly identifies a short fragment from the peptide that is a potent bactericide.

Development of an ion mobility quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometer.

We describe here a new ion mobility capable mass spectrometer which comprises a drift cell for mobility separation and a quadrapole time of flight mass spectrometer for mass analysis--the MoQTOF. A commercial QToF instrument (Micromass UK Ltd., Manchester, UK) has been modified by the inclusion of an additional chamber containing a drift cell and ancillary ion optics. The drift cell is 5.1 cm long made from a copper block and is mounted from a top hat flange in a chamber situated post source optics and prior to the quadapole analyzer. Details of this instrument are provided along with information about how it can be used to acquire mobilities of ions along with their mass to charge ratios. The MoQTOF is used to examine conformations of a series of antimicrobial peptides based on a beta-defensin template. In vivo, these cationic cystine-rich amphiphilic peptides are conformationally restrained by three or more disulfide bridges, although recent findings by several groups have cast doubt on the importance of canonical disulfide pairing to antimicrobial activities. By synthesizing a panel of variants to Defb14 (the murine orthologue of HBD3), we exploit ion mobility to distinguish conformational differences which arise due to disulfide formation and to the hydrophobicity of the peptide sequence. Our gas-phase results are interpreted in terms of the antimicrobial and chemotacic properties of beta-defensins, and this mass spectrometry based approach to discern structure may have a role in future design of novel antibiotics.