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Analytical Chemistry Chemical Cytometry Quantitates Superoxide

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Figure 5. ESI spectrum showing the derivatized protein resulting<br />

from reacting the reduced �-lactoglobulin A with ebselen. The<br />

superscript in the charge number shows the number of selenium tags<br />

added to the protein after derivatization.<br />

High selectivity and efficiency of the selenium chemistry<br />

investigated in this study makes it useful in identification of the<br />

number of free and bound thiol groups in proteins, which is of<br />

importance in the protein structural analysis. The reaction of intact<br />

protein �-lactoglobulin A with ebselen as described above shows<br />

that the protein has only one free cysteine residue. We further<br />

examined the derivatization reaction with reduced protein. In the<br />

experiment, the �-lactoglobulin A was first reduced by TCEP,<br />

which is known to be more stable and effective to reduce disulfide<br />

bonds than DTT. 46 After reduction and removal of the excess<br />

amount of TECP, the reagent ebselen was added to the protein<br />

solution for thiol derivatization. As shown in Figure 5, the reduced<br />

�-lactoglobulin A containing three selenium tags has a high<br />

relative abundance. It is likely that the reduction of disulfide bond<br />

of Cys 66 -Cys 160 is easier than the other Cys 106 -Cys 119 bond<br />

leading to reduced protein mainly with three free thiols. 47<br />

Another possible reason is that the reduced protein is partially<br />

folded so that it is not easy for the relatively large ebselen<br />

reagent to access all of the free thiols. Nevertheless, in Figure<br />

5, the multiply charged ions of fully modified proteins with five<br />

selenium tags were clearly observed, suggesting that the reduced<br />

protein has a maximum of five free cysteine residues. This<br />

indicates that the four additional free cysteine residues result from<br />

reduction and the protein has two disulfide bonds prior to<br />

reduction, which is exactly in agreement with the known structure<br />

(46) Han, J. C.; Han, G. Y. Anal. Biochem. 1994, 220, 5–10.<br />

(47) Sakai, K.; Sakurai, K.; Sakai, M.; Hoshino, M.; Goto, Y. Protein Sci. 2000,<br />

9, 1719–1729.<br />

6932 <strong>Analytical</strong> <strong>Chemistry</strong>, Vol. 82, No. 16, August 15, 2010<br />

of �-lactoglobulin A as mentioned before. Thus, it is possible to<br />

identify the number of free cysteine, total cysteine residues, and<br />

disulfide linkages in proteins using a simple approach based on<br />

the selenium chemistry.<br />

CONCLUSIONS<br />

In summary, ebselen and N-(phenylseleno)phthalimide, as<br />

Se-N bond containing compounds, are excellent labeling reagents<br />

for characterization of thiol-containing compounds by mass<br />

spectrometry. In this study we examined a series of reactions of<br />

these two selenium reagents with amino acids, peptides, and<br />

proteins. Our study reveals that the thiol derivatization reaction<br />

is highly selective, rapid, reversible, and efficient (quantitative in<br />

the case of �-lactoglobulin A derivatization by ebselen), which is<br />

of high value in proteomics research. In comparison to the wellknown<br />

Michael-addition reactions used for thiol tagging, selenium<br />

reagents appear to be more efficient and faster. <strong>Analytical</strong><br />

applications stemming from this investigation include (i) fast<br />

screening of peptides/proteins containing free cysteine residues<br />

from complex mixtures and (ii) identification of the number of<br />

free and bound thiols of proteins and their locations using MS/<br />

MS experiments. Given the significance of thiols in life and the<br />

important reaction features uncovered, it is expected that there<br />

will be many novel MS applications based on the powerful<br />

selenium chemistry reported in this study.<br />

ACKNOWLEDGMENT<br />

This work was supported by U.S. NSF (Grant CHE-0911160),<br />

National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, Grant<br />

2007CB936000), National Natural Science Funds for Distinguished<br />

Young Scholar (Grant No. 20725518), National Natural Science<br />

Foundation of China (Grant No. 20875057), and Natural Science<br />

Foundation of Shandong Province in China (Grant No. Y2007B02).<br />

Part of the research described in this manuscript was performed<br />

at the W. R. Wiley Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory<br />

(EMSL), a national scientific user facility sponsored by the U.S.<br />

Department of Energy’s Office of Biological and Environmental<br />

Research and located at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory<br />

(PNNL). PNNL is operated by Battelle for the U.S. Department<br />

of Energy. We also thank Mr. Xiaoyong Lu for his help.<br />

SUPPORTING INFORMATION AVAILABLE<br />

Additional supporting mass spectra. This material is available<br />

free of charge via the Internet at http://pubs.acs.org.<br />

Received for review May 4, 2010. Accepted July 6, 2010.<br />

AC1011602

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