A hydroxylamine probe for profiling S-acylated fatty acids on proteins.

Reversible S-palmitoylation is a key regulatory mechanism of protein function and localization. There is increasing evidence that S-acylation is not restricted to palmitate but it includes shorter, longer, and unsaturated fatty acids. However, the diversity of this protein modification has not been fully explored. Herein, we report a chemical probe that combined with MS-based analysis allows the rapid detection and quantification of fatty acids linked to proteins. We have used this approach to profile the S-acylome and to show that the oncogene N-Ras is heterogeneously acylated with palmitate and palmitoleate. Studies on protein distribution in membrane subdomains with semisynthetic proteins revealed that unsaturated N-Ras presents an increased tendency toward clustering and higher insertion kinetic rate constants.

Azide-tagged sphingolipids for the proteome-wide identification of C16-ceramide-binding proteins.

Ceramide plays key roles in autophagy, inflammation and apoptosis. However, little is known about the molecular mechanisms regulating its function and only a handful of cellular effectors are known for this lipid. Here we show that azide-tagged sphingolipids are powerful tools to identify ceramide targets. The combination of a protein array analysis and a mass spectrometry-based proteomic profiling successfully detects known ceramide-binding proteins and identifies others not yet reported, several of which we validated using a variety of techniques.

High Affinity Immobilization of Proteins Using the CrAsH/TC Tag.

Protein microarrays represent important tools for biomedical analysis. We have recently described the use of the biarsenical-tetracysteine (TC) tag for the preparation of protein microarrays. The unique feature of this tag enables the site-specific immobilization of TC-containing proteins on biarsenical-modified surfaces, resulting in a fluorescence enhancement that allows the direct quantification of the immobilized proteins. Moreover, the reversibility of the binding upon incubation with large quantities of thiols permits the detachment of the proteins from the surface, thereby enabling recovery of the substrate to extend the life time of the slide. Herein, we describe our recent results that further extend the applicability of the CrAsH/TC tag to the fabrication of biochips. With this aim, the immobilization of proteins on surfaces has been investigated using two different spacers and two TC tags, the minimal TC sequence (CCPGCC) and an optimized motif (FLNCCPGCCMEP). While the minimal peptide motif enables a rapid recycling of the slide, the optimized TC sequence reveals an increased affinity due to its greater resistance to displacement by thiols. Moreover, the developed methodology was applied to the immobilization of proteins via on-chip ligation of recombinant protein thioesters.

Site-specific, reversible and fluorescent immobilization of proteins on CrAsH-modified surfaces for microarray analytics.

A novel technique for protein immobilization onto CrAsH-modified surfaces is presented. This approach enables an efficient, reversible and fluorogenic immobilization of proteins. Moreover, expressed proteins can also be directly immobilized from cellular lysates without prior purification. The immobilized proteins are suitable for protein-protein interaction studies and the fluorescence enhancement upon immobilization can be employed for the direct detection of the immobilized protein without the need for secondary detection methods.