Phosphoproteomics

Abstract: Eukaryotic cells replicate by a complex series of evolutionarily conserved events that are tightly regulated at defined stages of the cell division cycle. Progression through this cycle involves a large number of dedicated protein complexes and signaling pathways, and deregulation of this process is implicated in tumorigenesis. We applied high-resolution mass spectrometry-based proteomics to investigate the proteome and phosphoproteome of the human cell cycle on a global scale and quantified 6027 proteins and 20,443 unique phosphorylation sites and their dynamics. Co-regulated proteins and phosphorylation sites were grouped according to their cell cycle kinetics and compared to publicly available messenger RNA microarray data. Most detected phosphorylation sites and more than 20% of all quantified proteins showed substantial regulation, mainly in mitotic cells. Kinase-motif analysis revealed global activation during S phase of the DNA damage response network, which was mediated by phosphorylation by ATM or ATR or DNA-dependent protein kinases. We determined site-specific stoichiometry of more than 5000 sites and found that most of the up-regulated sites phosphorylated by cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (CDK1) or CDK2 were almost fully phosphorylated in mitotic cells. In particular, nuclear proteins and proteins involved in regulating metabolic processes have high phosphorylation site occupancy in mitosis. This suggests that these proteins may be inactivated by phosphorylation in mitotic cells.

Abstract: Determining the site of a regulatory phosphorylation event is often essential for elucidating specific kinase–substrate relationships, providing a handle for understanding essential signaling pathways and ultimately allowing insights into numerous disease pathologies. Despite intense research efforts to elucidate mechanisms of protein phosphorylation regulation, efficient, large-scale identification and characterization of phosphorylation sites remains an unsolved problem. In this report we describe an application of existing technology for the isolation and identification of phosphorylation sites. By using a strategy based on strong cation exchange chromatography, phosphopeptides were enriched from the nuclear fraction of HeLa cell lysate. From 967 proteins, 2,002 phosphorylation sites were determined by tandem MS. This unprecedented large collection of sites permitted a detailed accounting of known and unknown kinase motifs and substrates.