Proteomics Flashcards
(125 cards)
What is the proteome?
Total protein profile/complement present in a biological sample at a given time
What is proteomics?
(clinical and general)
In a clinical view: Scientific area with the emphasis to analyze the whole proteome.
In a general view: A subset of methodologies that are needed in the analysis of proteins/proteomes
Why is it that Proteome ≠ Transcriptome?
!
Proteins are the dynamic and structural elements responsible for function, shape, etc. One gene can code for many genes products:
- Different promoters (DNA → RNA, e.g. p53)
- Alternative splicing (mRNA: introns / exons, e.g. p53):
- Alternative splicing plays an important role in protein diversity without significantly increasing genome size
- Common in cancer
- Decoration of proteins with modifications (phosphate, acetylation, e.g. p53)
- Different stability of mRNA‘s influenced by cellular signals & feedback mechanisms
Example: In Cancer ~10% Protein to mRNA Correlation
WHat are the principles of proteome organization?
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Protein-Protein Interactions –> Modularity
- The majority of a cellular proteome is organized in stable and transient complexes that form functional dynamic networks.
- Cell signaling: transient complex formation in time
- Regulation by PTM switches (time frame sec. to hrs)
- Ø Protein complexes represent key functional units for the control of biochemical processes
–> Interactome: >2x105 PTMs
What are the goals of proteomics research?
- Establishment of parts list:
- What is there?
- Confirmation of predicted genes
- Characterization of PTM’s à Signaling networks
- Secretome Analysis à no mRNA available!
- Differential proteomics:
- Definition of proteins that make the difference (control vs disease)
- Biomarker discovery
- Changes in PTM patterns
- Quantitative protein assays:
- Multiplexed, mass spectrometry based “ELISA”
- Interactome:
- Definition of proteins building a functional complex (proteinaceous machines, PPI)
–> This leads often to hypotheses generating
What are the main 5 proteome characteristics?
What are the technical challenges associated with them?
!
- No amplification of proteins possible –> High sensitivity of analytical method
- Differential solubility –> Generality of analysis
- Proteome is dynamic –> Point of sample collection
- Protein modifications, protein processing, protein degradation –> Detect and identify
differentially modified forms - Dynamic range (a lot of proteins, some in really low concentrations) –> Suppression effects
What is the main technical approach for proteomics research?
Slice the Iceberg
Since analyzing a full sample is too difficult, we need to slice the sample in multiple smaller samples –> separation technologies –> LC-MS
How should sample preparation be done to access a proteome?
!
- Sample preparation should be kept as simple as possible. Each step is prone to introduce modifications, loss of proteins, variance!
- No single method can deal with all proteins
- -> often compromises have to be made
- For metabolomics similar considerations apply
- Sample collection and preservation influence sample quality
- -> loss of proteins by freeze-thaw cycles, degradation of proteins and PTM’s by enzymatic activities …
- Highly abundant proteins obscure large parts of a proteome
- -> pre-fractionation/depletion steps have to be considered
- At the end, sample preparation must be compatible with mass spectrometry
- -> Avoid too much salt, no detergents/polymers, …
- Intact protein (top-down) or peptide (bottom-up) based approaches
- -> solubility of intact proteins
What is affinity based enrichment?
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Sample Fractionation
- Per se carried out under native conditions –> protein-protein interactions remain
- Bait fishing by use of antibody, or by a tag approach
- General pitfalls:
- Buffer conditions influence protein-protein interactions (ionic strength, detergents, pH, …)
- Low affinity between bait and target (especially with antibodies)
- Non-specific cross-reactions
- Transient interactions with fast on/off rates (low yields)
- Overexpression of genetically engineered Tag-protein & co-expression of native protein (interferences!)
What is Substrate-based Affinity Isolation?
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Sample fractionation: Functional/Chemical Proteomics
Add a substrate that will attach to the protein of interest. Since we know what substrate we used, we can detect the shift in the MS
What sample fractionation methodes are there?
(Separation methods for proteins & peptides)
- Affinity based enrichment
- Substrate-based Affinity Isolation
- Centrifugation
- Subcellular Fractionation
- Electrophoresis
- Isoelectrical Focusing
- Macromolecule Electrophoresis
- Liquid Chromatography

What is the Bottom-up LC-MS/MS based Workflow (shotgun proteomics)?
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LC-MS/MS:
- Eluted peptides are ionized and sent through MS -> m/z of precursor peptide ions
- Precursor ions are selected for fragmentation -> MS/MS of fragments, spectrum file (mz-Int)
- This information is sufficient to identify peptides

Why do we need protein quantification?
- mRNA levels correlate only little with protein concentrations.
- Proteins often have to be processed to be functional.
- Proteins are degraded or secreted.
- PTMs regulate many processes and are only present on protein level.
- Protein often work in complexes which is not blueprinted in the DNA or RNA sequence.
- Information about the stoichiometry of proteins in protein complexes tells more about the function of a complex
- …
What different types of quantitative proteomics are there?
Quantitative proteomics
Quantitative modification proteomics
Comparative proteomics
Biomarker studies
What is the aim of Quantitative proteomics?
measuring protein concentrations of a few dozens (complexes) to thousands (organelles, cells, tissue) of proteins in order to shed light on function and pathways
What is the aim of Quantitative modification proteomics?
measuring the levels of PTMs on proteins, i.e. biological activity or functional regulation
What is Comparative proteomics?
compares the expression levels of proteins between different biological conditions in order to find proteins whose concentration significantly differs between conditions.
These proteins can either be up or down regulated
What is the aim of Biomarker studies?
try to find proteins in body fluids (blood, urine, tears, saliva, ..) whose expression changes as a function of a disease state. They may then be used for early detection of a disease, for disease monitoring or measuring the effectiveness of treatment
What is the fold change?
Measuring Change
- Fold change = value1/value2
- Many biological systems react linearly to the fold change, therefore the fold change is often a natural measure
- Often expressed as log2(fold change) = log2(value1) - log2(value2)
- p-value:
- Is the outcome of a statistical test evaluating the significance of a fold change
- Takes into account the statistical variation of the values
What is absolute and relative quantification?
Absolute quantification:
aims at obtaining the concentration (counts/ml or g/ml or counts per cell, cpc) of a protein. This value has a physical meaning and can be compared to different experiments and used for chemical modeling (systems biology).
Relative quantification:
the quantitative values do not need to have a physical meaning but are values which are a monotonously increasing function of the actual concentrations. In the linear dynamic range these values are proportional to the actual concentrations and a ratio of two values is equal to the ratio of the two concentrations
What is the Dynamic Range of Quantitative measurements?
Important concept in quantification :
In the linear dynamic range, the response values are proportional to the actual concentrations and a ratio of two values is equal to the ratio of the two concentrations

What is spectral counting?
Count number of MS/MS spectra that match to a given protein
What is label-free LC-MS1 quantification?
- Based on LC-MS or LC-MS/MS experiments.
- Use peak heights/area of LC-MS1 peaks as indicator for peptide abundance.
- No additional sample prep needed. Therefore, kind of fast, cheap.
But fastidious sample preparation needed! - Software has to detect peaks, calculate peak volumes and align LC-MS1 peaks over different runs (retention time shifts between runs).
- Continuous alignment according to alignment tree
- Match features over different LC-MS runs (same RT and m/z)
- Transfer of MS2 identifications, where missing
What is Retention Time Alignment?
Removing ions that elute over long time and produce a row of signals (streaks)
Iterative strategy: calculate regression, reassign features, remove outliers, and repeat steps



