Application of combined mass spectrometry and partial amino acid sequence to the identification of gel-separated proteins

The combined use of peptide mass information with amino acid sequence information derived by chemical sequencing or mass spectrometry (MS)-based approaches provides a powerful means of protein identification. We have used a two-part strategy to identify proteins from nerve growth factor (NGF)-stimulated rat adrenal pheochromocytoma cell line PC-12 cell lysates that associate with the adaptor protein Shc (Shc homologous and collagen protein). Initial experiments with metabolically radiolabeled cell extracts separated by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) revealed a number of proteins that coimmunoprecipitated with anti-Shc antibody compared with control (unstimulated) cell extracts. The experiment was scaled up and cell lysate from NGF-stimulated PC-12 cells was applied to a glutathione-S-transferase (GST)-Shc affinity column, eluted, separated by SDS-PAGE and blotted to Immobilon-CD. The blotted proteins were proteolytically digested in situ, and the masses obtained from the extracted peptides were used in a peptide-mass search program in an attempt to identify the protein. Even if a strong candidate was found using this search, an additional step was performed to confirm the identification. The mixtures were fractionated by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) and subjected to chemical sequencing to obtain (partial) sequence information, or post-source decay (PSD-) matrix-assisted laser-desorption ionization (MALDI)-MS to obtain sequence-specific fragment ions. This data was used in a peptide-sequence tag search to confirm the identity of the proteins. This combined approach allowed identification of four proteins of M(r) 43000 to 200000. In one case the identified protein clearly did not correspond to the radiolabeled band, but to a protein contaminant from the column. The advantages and pitfalls of the approach are discussed.