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Molecular & Cellular Proteomics 6:1690-1699, 2007.
© 2007 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.
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From the
Institut für Pharmazeutische Chemie, Biozentrum, Centre of Excellence "Macromolecular Complexes," Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, Max-von-Laue-Str. 9, D-60439 Frankfurt am Main, Germany,
Molekulare Bioenergetik, Zentrum der Biologischen Chemie, Centre of Excellence "Macromolecular Complexes," Fachbereich Medizin, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, Theodor-Stern-Kai 7, D-60590 Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and ¶ Chimie Organique des Substances Naturelles, CNRS, 5 Rue Blaise Pascal, 67084 Strasbourg Cedex, France
| ABSTRACT |
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,
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in mammals, is associated with a ring of F0-subunits c (9). This central stalk/subunit c assembly constitutes the rotor in the fully assembled ATP synthase. Proton-powered rotation of the c-ring makes the central stalk turn with it, generating torque and conformational changes in the catalytic
3ß3 domain of F1 to synthesize ATP (10–13). Holo-ATP synthase from bovine mitochondria when isolated in monomeric state contains a total of 16 protein subunits (14). Natural inhibitor protein IF1 is also bound but with variable stoichiometry (15–18). More recently, mammalian ATP synthase has been isolated also in dimeric and higher oligomeric states using digitonin for membrane solubilization and blue native electrophoresis (BNE) or clear native electrophoresis (CNE) for separation of the mitochondrial complexes (19–21). We asked whether monomeric and dimeric/oligomeric ATP synthases differ with respect to their subunit compositions. Unlike the situation in yeast (22), subunits e and g are known as tightly bound subunits of monomeric bovine ATP synthase and therefore cannot be considered as dimer-specific subunits. However, no thorough search for other potential differences in the subunit composition of monomeric and dimeric or oligomeric ATP synthases has been performed so far.
The focus of the present work was to characterize the protein constituents of monomeric and dimeric mammalian ATP synthases by mass spectrometry and Edman protein sequencing to identify potential dimer-specific or ATP synthase-associated proteins. In a second step we planned to apply multidimensional electrophoresis, MS and tandem MS, and immunological techniques to verify or dismiss individual candidate proteins as dimer-specific or ATP synthase-associated proteins.
| EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES |
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-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid was from Bruker Daltonics, Bremen, Germany. All other chemicals were from Sigma.
Isolation of Mitochondria—
Rat heart mitochondria were prepared according to Jacobus and Saks (23) but without using bovine serum albumin and trypsin. Crude mitochondria were further purified on a sucrose step gradient as described for yeast mitochondria (24) except that the layers contained 15, 23, 32, 37, 47, 55, and 60% sucrose. The band on top of the 47% sucrose layer contained the purified mitochondria. Aliquots containing 400 µg of mitochondrial protein or multiples thereof were sedimented by 10-min centrifugation at 10,000 x g and stored at –80 °C. Crude bovine heart mitochondria were prepared according to Smith (25).
Sample Preparation for Blue Native Electrophoresis—
Aliquots containing 400 µg of sedimented mitochondrial protein were solubilized by adding 40 µl of solubilization buffer (50 mM NaCl, 50 mM imidazole, 2 mM 6-aminohexanoic acid, 1 mM EDTA, pH 7) and specific detergent amounts to set the detergent/protein ratios given in the text, e.g. 4 µl of digitonin (20% stock in water) was added to set a digitonin/protein ratio of 2 (g/g). Following 15-min centrifugation at 100,000 x g, Coomassie dye (2 µl from a 5% Coomassie G-250 stock in 750 mM 6-aminohexanoic acid) was added to the supernatant for BNE to set a detergent/Coomassie ratio of 8:1. The total supernatants were applied to two 0.15 x 0.5-cm sample gel wells each for BNE.
Electrophoretic Techniques and Gels—
Buffers and running conditions for 1-D BNE and 2-D BNE/BNE were as described previously (26). Linear 3–13% acrylamide gradient gels were used for 1-D BNE, and linear 4–16% acrylamide gradient gels were used for 2-D BNE (with 0.02% dodecylmaltoside added to the cathode buffer). SDS-PAGE was performed as described recently (27) using 16% T, 6% C gels, the optimal gel type for resolution of bovine ATP synthase subunits. Electroblotting onto PVDF membranes and doubled SDS-PAGE (dSDS-PAGE) followed recent protocols (27, 28).
Antibodies and Western Blotting—
PVDF membranes were destained for 5 min in methanol and washed for 30 min in PBS, 0.5% Tween 20 and for 5 min in PBS, 0.1% Tween 20. Following a 16-h incubation with specific antibody diluted in PBS, 0.1% Tween 20, the membrane was washed three times for 10 min in PBS, 0.1% Tween 20. Blots were then incubated for 1 h with goat anti-rabbit immunoglobulin G conjugated to horseradish peroxidase (Sigma, catalog number A0545) diluted 1:20,000 by PBS, 0.1% Tween 20. Blots were washed five times for 5 min in water followed by a chemiluminescence assay.
A polyclonal rabbit antibody raised against the bovine MLQ protein (29) was used at 1:2500 dilution. Antisera against amino- and carboxyl-terminal sequence stretches of the AGP protein (AGPEADAQFHFTGIK and YFKLRSKKTPAVKAT) coupled to keyhole limpet hemocyanin via a cysteine residues were raised in rabbits (Eurogentec, Seraing, Belgium). 1:10,000–1:40,000 dilutions were used for immunodetection.
In-gel ATP Hydrolysis Assay and Densitometric Quantification—
Phosphate that was produced by the in-gel ATP hydrolysis activity of complex V bands precipitated as white lead phosphate bands during the assay, and the white precipitates were quantified densitometrically. The assay followed the protocol of Zerbetto et al. (30) except that the 1-D BN gel was preincubated for 1 h in 35 mM Tris, 270 mM glycine buffer, pH 8.3, before this buffer was exchanged for the assay buffer containing 8 mM ATP, 0.2% lead nitrate, and 14 mM magnesium sulfate. The 1-h preincubation raised the sensitivity of the ATPase assay considerably approaching the high sensitivity of the assay using CN gels. In contrast to CN gels, however, the ATP hydrolysis activity could not be inhibited by the complex V inhibitor oligomycin (5 µg/ml added to preincubation and assay buffers). After 60 min the assay had to be stopped by 30-min incubation in 50% methanol and transfer to water. Documentation of the white precipitates by standard color scanning was optimal using black cover sheets. Chemi Doc XRS (Bio-Rad) and the Quantity One software (Bio-Rad) were used for densitometric quantification on native and SDS gels using non-condensed tiff files.
Following documentation, the lead phosphate precipitates were dissolved by 10% acetic acid, and the gel was restained by Coomassie dye to identify further mitochondrial complexes. Because bands in 1-D BNE were rarely useful for densitometric quantitation, representative subunits of complexes on Coomassie-stained 2-D SDS gels were used instead for more reliable quantification. Using the Coomassie-stained
and ß subunits of complex V, for example, and the densitometric data for the in-gel lead phosphate precipitates, specific activities for the various oligomeric states of complex V were calculated.
Edman Degradation—
Electroblotted proteins on PVDF membranes were sequenced directly using a 473A protein sequencer (Applied Biosystems) or after incubation in a 1:1 (v/v) mixture of trifluoroacetic acid and methanol (24 h at 37 °C for deformylation; 57 h at 37 °C for partial deacylation) (31). Internal protein sequences were obtained as described previously (32). Briefly complex V subunits were separated by blue SDS-PAGE. Individual subunits were extracted by electroelution and cleaved at tryptophan residues by o-iodosobenzoic acid in 80% acetic acid (33). Acetic acid was diluted with 9 volumes of water and then removed by lyophilization. Dried samples were redissolved by adding a minimal volume of water and 0.5% mercaptoethanol. Protein fragments were then separated by Tricine-SDS-PAGE and electroblotted on PVDF membranes for protein sequencing.
Sample Preparation for Mass Spectrometry—
Silver-stained protein spots were destained with 100 µl of 15 mM potassium ferricyanide(III), 50 mM sodium thiosulfate; washed three times with H2O (400 µl, 15 min) and three times with 50% (v/v) acetonitrile, 25 mM NH4HCO3 (400 µl, 15 min); and prepared for mass spectrometry essentially as described previously (34). Briefly following overnight trypsin digestion, the supernatant was collected. The gel pieces were then extracted twice for 30 min by 50% (v/v) acetonitrile, 5% (v/v) formic acid followed by two extractions for 30 min using 100% (v/v) acetonitrile, 5% (v/v) formic acid. The combined extracts were dried by SpeedVac and stored at –20 °C for mass spectrometric analysis.
MALDI-TOF and MALDI-TOF/TOF Mass Spectrometry—
Dried samples were dissolved in 5 µl of 50% (v/v) acetonitrile, 0.5% (v/v) trifluoroacetic acid. 1 µl of sample was mixed with 1 µl of matrix (half-saturated
-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid in 50% (v/v) acetonitrile, 0.5% (v/v) trifluoroacetic acid) and dried in ambient air. The crystals were washed briefly with ice-cold 5% (v/v) formic acid. MS experiments were performed on the Ultraflex TOF/TOF instrument (Bruker Daltonics). The low mass gate was set to 650 Da, and the acquisition range was set to 700–5000 Da. Approximately 1200 scans were accumulated for each mass spectrum. The obtained resolution was
15,000 at m/z = 2000. Using external calibration mass accuracy was 50 ppm. A standard peptide calibration mixture (Applied Biosystems/MDS SCIEX) that contained six peptides covering the acquired mass range was used for the calibration (see Supplemental Table S6A). Selected peaks of ATP synthase subunits were fragmented by the LIFT method to verify peptide mass fingerprint identifications with a mass accuracy of 50 ppm for the precursor and 0.6 Da for the fragments. The isolation width for the precursor was adjusted manually (0.5–1% of the precursor mass), and the following fragmentation was laser-induced using 2000–10,000 scans.
Analysis of Mass Spectrometric Data—
All MS spectra were smoothed, noise-filtered, and monoisotopically labeled using Flex Analysis version 2.2 software (Bruker Daltonics). Monoisotopic peaks with a signal-to-noise ratio >3 were annotated using the Sophisticated Numerical Annotation Procedure (SNAP) algorithm (see Supplemental Table S6B). Peaks present in almost all MS spectra were defined as contaminants even if the peaks could not be classified as trypsin peaks, matrix clusters, or other laboratory-specific contaminants like keratin. These peaks were removed from the mass list prior to database search (background peak list, Supplemental Table S3). The generated peak lists were searched against the National Center for Biotechnology Information non-redundant (NCBInr) March 26, 2007 (4,761,919 sequence entries) database using Mascot search engine (version 2.2, Matrix Science Ltd., London, UK) (35). Searches were done with tryptic specificity allowing two missed cleavages. MS spectra from gel spots with masses below 15 kDa were checked allowing up to five missed cleavages (e.g. spot 15 in Supplemental Table S1 and Supplemental Fig. S22). Mass tolerance was set to 50 ppm. Carbamidomethylation of cysteine and oxidation of methionine were allowed structure modifications, and the Rodentia database subset was chosen (163,720 sequence entries). Mascot scores greater than 65 were considered significant. Additionally the Mascot score of the first non-homologous protein to the highest ranked hit was checked (see Supplemental Table S4). All PMF searches were also repeated against a randomized database (see Supplemental Table S5). Search results were finally transferred to BioTools version 2.2 software (Bruker Daltonics) for visualization (see Supplemental Table S1 and Supplemental Figs. S1–S22).
MS/MS spectra were processed and searched similarly except that the signal-to-noise threshold for the monoisotopic labeling was 6 and that the maximal number of allowed peaks was 50 (see Supplemental Table S6C). These strict settings for the peak labeling ensure a high quality of the mass lists submitted to the database search. Searches were done with individual MS/MS spectra using MALDI-TOF/TOF as instrument type and a 50-ppm mass tolerance for the precursor and a 0.6-Da mass tolerance for the fragments. Database, search engine, and search parameters were used as for the PMF search. A decoy database search was also carried out (see Supplemental Table S2). BioTools version 2.2 software (Bruker Daltonics) was used for visualization of the MS/MS database search results. The strict settings for the peak labeling were lowered before calculating the fragmentation patterns of the identified peptides (signal-to-noise threshold >1.5, maximal number of allowed peaks = 200; Supplemental Table S6C). Peptides were considered as identified when the scoring value exceeded the identity or extensive homology threshold value calculated by Mascot version 2.2 (threshold, 2; listed in Supplemental Table S2) or the significant homology value (threshold, 1; listed in Supplemental Table S2). Spectra with scores below or close to the significant homology value were manually inspected. Peptides were regarded as identified when prominent fragments of laser-induced dissociation (y, b, a, and immonium ions) could be assigned to the calculated fragmentation patterns (BioTools version 2.2 software, Bruker Daltonics) of the peptide (Supplemental Figs. S9, S11, and S17–S19).
Programs Used for Structural Analysis and Homologue Search—
Analysis was done with freeware provided by the ExPASy Proteomics Server (Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics; www.expasy.org), NCBI (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov), and the Saccharomyces Genome Database (www.yeastgenome.org). The prediction of transmembrane regions was done with TMpred, SOSUI, TMHMM version 2.0, and HMMTOP version 2.2, and the search for putative phosphorylation sites was performed by NetPhos version 2.0 (www.expasy.org). blastp searches were done using NCBI database and Saccharomyces Genome Database, respectively (search date, March 2007; search settings summarized in Supplemental Table S7). ClustalW version 1.83 (www.expasy.org) was used for direct alignments of protein sequences.
| RESULTS |
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Protein Composition of Highly Pure Rat Heart ATP Synthase Isolated by 2-D BNE/BNE—
Next we asked how we could improve the purity of the analyzed complexes without disturbing detergent-sensitive protein-protein interactions and losing associated proteins. The highest purity of multiprotein complexes is prerequisite to analyze the subunit composition by mass spectrometry, but even this purity does not guarantee that identified proteins are true subunits or associated proteins. On the other hand, multistep isolation protocols using common detergents can dissociate proteins that are associated with protein complexes in the membrane, and any chance to identify associated proteins and potential regulatory factors is lost. As a compromise, we therefore applied a special 2-D electrophoretic technique that used native conditions for both dimensions (2-D BNE/BNE) to isolate highly pure membrane protein complexes under very mild conditions as exemplified in Fig. 2, A and B. Digitonin was used to solubilize rat heart mitochondria for 1-D BNE under very mild conditions to preserve supramolecular assemblies of respiratory chain complexes I, III, and IV, and dimeric ATP synthase. The following 2-D BNE used the same buffers as 1-D BNE except that 0.02% dodecylmaltoside was added to the Coomassie dye-containing cathode buffer. Detergent and anionic Coomassie dye formed negatively charged micelles that dissociated supramolecular assemblies into the individual complexes during the 2-D BNE except some dimeric complex V (Fig. 2B, VD). The mixed Coomassie/detergent micelles have the potential to partly or completely remove associated proteins from the complexes during 2-D BNE. However, if some percentage of the MLQ and AGP proteins was still bound to complex V, mass spectrometry should be able to detect these residual amounts.
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Regarding specifically the result obtained with digitonin solubilization we conclude that the MLQ and AGP proteins bind almost quantitatively to the ATP synthase in the mitochondrial membrane. No significant amounts of the individual proteins, not associated with complexes, seem to exist in the membrane because almost no signal intensity was detected on the right side of the 2-D gels (Fig. 4A), whereas dissociated individual MLQ and AGP proteins were clearly identified in the control 2-D gels (Fig. 4, B–D). Binding of MLQ and AGP proteins was not restricted to the dimeric and/or higher oligomeric forms of ATP synthase but occurred also with the monomeric form (Fig. 4, A, B, and D).
MLQ and AGP Proteins Do Not Affect the ATP Hydrolysis Activity of Complex V—
Bovine heart mitochondrial supercomplexes and individual complexes were solubilized using various digitonin/protein and dodecylmaltoside (DDM)/protein ratios and then separated by BNE (Fig. 5). The solubilization conditions were chosen to keep the AGP and MLQ proteins either quantitatively associated with complex V (digitonin/protein ratio = 2–4 g/g), to partly dissociate the MLQ protein from complex V (DDM/protein ratio = 0.6 g/g), or to remove both complex V-associated proteins almost completely (DDM/protein ratio = 1.6 g/g). The in-gel ATP hydrolysis activities (Fig. 5A) were then compared with the corresponding complex V protein amounts from densitometric quantitation of Coomassie-stained 2-D gels (not shown) to determine the specific ATP hydrolysis activities in the presence or absence of the novel complex V-associated proteins. As summarized in Table II, the specific ATP hydrolysis activity of monomeric complex V solubilized by high and low DDM amounts were almost identical, indicating that dissociation of the MLQ protein had no immediate effect on the catalytic activity of complex V. Also the specific ATP hydrolysis activities of monomeric complex V solubilized by DDM and digitonin were almost identical. This was not expected because different detergents in principle can delipidate proteins differentially and thereby influence catalytic activities.
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Search for AGP and MLQ Homologues—
A protein-protein blast search (blastp) using the Rattus norvegicus AGP protein sequence as query sequence to search the NCBI database identified mammalian proteins with around 90% identity and some insect orthologues (40% identity and 60% similarity comparing R. norvegicus and Sarcophaga bullata in Fig. 6A). A WU-BLAST2 search using the AGP homologous protein sequence of the insect S. bullata as query sequence to search the Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome database (www.yeastgenome.org) gave yeast ATP synthase subunit k at position six of the result list. However, sequence similarity between S. bullata AGP protein and S. cerevisiae subunit k was low (13% identity, 16% similarity), and the position of the predicted transmembrane helix was shifted (Fig. 6B). Similarly the rat AGP protein and yeast subunit k shared only 12% identical and 19% similar residues.
A homology search using the R. norvegicus MLQ protein sequence as query sequence to search the NCBI database identified several highly homologous mammalian proteins and one homologue (34% identity, 50% similarity) from the zebrafish Danio rerio (Fig. 6C). No homologue of the mammalian MLQ protein was found in the S. cerevisiae genome database. Direct comparison of MLQ with the known subunits of yeast ATP synthase did not reveal any similarity.
| DISCUSSION |
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Mass spectrometric identification of proteins smaller than 10 kDa can pose a problem because the number of tryptic fragments of small proteins often is too low for successful database search and reliable identification. Furthermore small proteins often are not annotated as proteins in databases. For this work, however, searching nucleotide databases was not necessary because the two novel proteins were already annotated in the NCBI database. Using highly purified complexes reduced potential ambiguities in the interpretation of the experimental data considerably. The AGP protein could be identified directly by peptide mass fingerprinting because it was detected as a distinct protein spot (Fig. 2C, spot 13) on a doubled SDS gel. MS/MS was then used for confirmation. The MLQ protein co-migrated with subunit 8 of ATP synthase (also named ATP8 or A6L subunit) and could not be identified by direct peptide mass fingerprinting. MS/MS analyses were required to identify this protein unambiguously in a mixture of proteins. This MLQ protein may well have escaped detection if the protein had not been identified before by Edman degradation using much larger amounts of relatively impure ATP synthase. We think that the power of Edman degradation should not be disregarded in times that are more and more reliant on ESI and MALDI MS techniques.
A NetPhos search for phosphorylation sites identified two potential phosphorylation sites for the AGP protein and one for the MLQ protein. This prediction was not confirmed by a recent proteomics study to search for posttranslational modifications of hydrophobic mitochondrial proteins (37). According to this careful study, the AGP or DAPIT protein (36) and the MLQ protein (or 6.8-kDa proteolipid; Ref. 29) carry no posttranslational modification. Reversible metabolic phosphorylation cannot be excluded.
Thorough subunit analyses are available for monomeric but not for dimeric ATP synthases except for dimeric ATP synthase from S. cerevisiae that contains three dimer-specific subunits, e, g, and k. The mammalian subunit e and g homologues are known as tightly bound subunits of monomeric bovine ATP synthase. Therefore, only the remaining yeast subunit k had to be analyzed for a potential similarity with the novel mammalian ATP synthase-associated proteins. A WU-BLAST2 search of the yeast genome database using an insect AGP query sequence revealed subunit k as a potential AGP homologue. However, the sequence similarity was low (13% identity, 16% similarity), and the position of the predicted transmembrane helix was shifted compared with the AGP protein. This suggested that the low similarity between the AGP protein and yeast ATP synthase subunit k might be fortuitous. Homology of AGP and subunit (Su) k proteins would not help much to elucidate the functional role of the mammalian AGP protein because deletion of Su k did not alter the yeast phenotype (22).
Alternative names for the AGP protein that might also give some hints for potential functional roles are usmg5 protein (up-regulated during skeletal muscle growth protein 5) and diabetes-associated protein in insulin-sensitive tissue. Up-regulation in response to active stretching of skeletal muscle and down-regulation of DAPIT mRNA in insulin-sensitive rat tissues upon induction of streptozotocin-induced diabetes may point to a role in the energy metabolism of cells, in glucose metabolism, and/or in oxidative phosphorylation. RNA silencing will be used to study possible AGP- and/or MLQ-dependent changes in the mitochondrial inner membrane morphology and in the supramolecular organization of oxidative phosphorylation complexes especially of the oligomeric state of the mitochondrial ATP synthase.
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Published, MCP Papers in Press, June 17, 2007, DOI 10.1074/mcp.M700097-MCP200
1 The abbreviations used are: complex I, NADH dehydrogenase complex; complex III, ubiquinol cytochrome c reductase; complex IV, cytochrome c oxidase; complex V, ATP synthase; BN, blue native; CN, clear native; BNE, blue native electrophoresis; CNE, clear native electrophoresis; DDM, dodecylmaltoside; PMF, peptide mass fingerprint; DAPIT, diabetes-associated protein in insulin-sensitive tissue; 1-D, one-dimensional; 2-D, two-dimensional; dSDS, doubled SDS; Tricine, N-[2-hydroxy-1,1-bis(hydroxymethyl)ethyl]glycine; Su, subunit. ![]()
* This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Sonderforschungsbereich 472 Project P11 (to H. S.) and Sonderforschungsbereich 628 Project P13 (to M. K. and H. S.). The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact. ![]()
S The on-line version of this article (available at http://www.mcponline.org) contains supplemental material. ![]()
|| To whom correspondence should be addressed: Molekulare Bioenergetik, Zentrum der Biologischen Chemie, Fachbereich Medizin, Universität Frankfurt, Theodor-Stern-Kai 7, Haus 26, D-60590 Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Tel.: 49-69-6301-6927; Fax: 49-69-6301-6970; E-mail: schagger{at}zbc.kgu.de
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