Nutritional and Clinical Glycomics Research

Category: Uncategorized (Page 1 of 6)

2015 Publications

Dallas, D.C., A. Guerrero, E.A. Parker, R.C. Robinson, J. Gan, J.B. German, D. Barile, and C.B. Lebrilla, Current peptidomics- Applications, purification, identification, quantification, and functional analysis. Proteomics, 2015. 15(5-6): p. 1026-38.

Dallas, D.C., C.J. Smink, R.C. Robinson, T. Tian, A. Guerrero, E.A. Parker, J.T. Smilowitz, K.A. Hettinga, M.A. Underwood, C.B. Lebrilla, J.B. German, and D. Barile, Endogenous Human Milk Peptide Release Is Greater after Preterm Birth than Term Birth. J Nutr, 2015. 145(3): p. 425-33.

De Leoz, M.L., K.M. Kalanetra, N.A. Bokulich, J.S. Strum, M.A. Underwood, J.B. German, D.A. Mills, and C.B. Lebrilla, Human Milk Glycomics and Gut Microbial Genomics in Infant Feces Show a Correlation between Human Milk Oligosaccharides and Gut Microbiota- A Proof-of-Concept Study. J Proteome Res, 2015. 14(1): p. 491-502.

Guerrero, A., D.C. Dallas, S. Contreras, A. Bhandari, A. Canovas, A. Islas-Trejo, J.F. Medrano, E.A. Parker, M. Wang, K. Hettinga, S. Chee, J.B. German, D. Barile, and C.B. Lebrilla, Peptidomic analysis of healthy and subclinically mastitic bovine milk. Int Dairy J, 2015. 46: p. 46-52.

Guerrero, A., L. Lerno, D. Barile, and C.B. Lebrilla, Top-Down Analysis of Highly Post-Translationally Modified Peptides by Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry. J Am Soc Mass Spectrom, 2015. 26(3): p. 453-9.

Hong, Q., L.R. Ruhaak, C. Stroble, E. Parker, J. Huang, E. Maverakis, and C.B. Lebrilla, A Method for Comprehensive Glycosite-Mapping and Direct Quantitation of Serum Glycoproteins. J Proteome Res, 2015.

Huang, J., A. Guerrero, E. Parker, J.S. Strum, J.T. Smilowitz, J.B. German, and C.B. Lebrilla, Site-specific Glycosylation of Secretory Immunoglobulin A from Human Colostrum.  J Proteome Res, 2015. 14(3): p. 1335-49.

Krishnan, S., J. Huang, H. Lee, A. Guerrero, L. Berglund, A. Erdembileg, C.B. Lebrilla, and A.M. Zivkovic, Combined HDL proteomic and glycomic profiles in patients at risk for coronary artery disease.. J Proteome Res, 2015.

Lewis, Z.T., S.M. Totten, J.T. Smilowitz, M. Popovic, E. Parker, D.G. Lemay, M.L. Van Tassell, M.J. Miller, Y.S. Jin, J.B. German, C.B. Lebrilla, and D.A. Mills, Maternal fucosyltransferase 2 status affects the gut bifidobacterial communities of breastfed infants.. Microbiome, 2015. 3: p. 13.

Maverakis, E., K. Kim, M. Shimoda, M.E. Gershwin, F. Patel, R. Wilken, S. Raychaudhuri, L.R. Ruhaak, and C.B. Lebrilla, Glycans in the immune system and The Altered Glycan Theory of Autoimmunity- A critical review. J Autoimmun, 2015. 57: p. 1-13.
Mechref, Y. and C. Lebrilla, 30th ASMS Asilomar Conference on Advances in Glycomics and Glycoproteomics: Methods and Applications. J Am Soc Mass Spectrom, 2015. 26(7): p. 1047-50.

Park, D., K.A. Brune, A. Mitra, A.I. Marusina, E. Maverakis, and C.B. Lebrilla, Characteristic changes in cell surface glycosylation accompany intestinal epithelial cell differentiation: high mannose structures dominate the cell surface glycome of undifferentiated enterocytes. Mol Cell Proteomics, 2015.

Ruhaak, L.R., D.A. Barkauskas, J. Torres, C.L. Cooke, L.D. Wu, C. Stroble, S. Ozcan, C.C. Williams, M. Camorlinga, D.M. Rocke, C.B. Lebrilla, and J.V. Solnick,The serum immunoglobulin G glycosylation signature of gastric cancer EuPA Open Proteom, 2015. 6: p. 1-9.

Ruhaak, L.R. and C.B. Lebrilla, Applications of Multiple Reaction Monitoring to Clinical Glycomics, 2015. 78(5-6): p. 335-342.

Ruhaak, L.R., S.L. Taylor, C. Stroble, U.T. Nguyen, E.A. Parker, T. Song, C.B. Lebrilla, W.N. Rom, H. Pass, K. Kim, K. Kelly, and S. Miyamoto, Differential N-glycosylation patterns in lung adenocarcinoma tissue. J Proteome Res, 2015.

Song, T., D.L. Aldredge, and C.B. Lebrilla, A method for in-depth structural annotation of human serum glycans yields the biological variations. Anal Chem, 2015.

Underwood, M.A., J.B. German, C.B. Lebrilla, and D.A. Mills, Bifidobacterium longum subspecies infantis: champion colonizer of the infant gut. Pediatr Res, 2015. 77(1-2): p. 229-35.

Wang, M., M. Li, S. Wu, C.B. Lebrilla, R.S. Chapkin, I. Ivanov, and S.M. Donovan, Fecal microbiota composition of breast-fed infants is correlated with human milk oligosaccharides consumed.. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr, 2015. 60(6): p. 825-33.

Comprehensive site-specific characterization of glycoproteins using enzymes of varying cleavage specificities

Dr. Lebrilla

Authors
Carlito Lebrilla; Evan Parker; Michael Xin Sun; Jincui Huang; Andres Guerrero

Institutes
UC Davis, Davis, CA


Novel Aspect
Software allows the use of any enzymatic system for the analysis of glycopeptides by LCMS thereby allowing target-oriented glycopeptide analysis.

Introduction
Site-specific analysis of protein glycosylation is an active and evolving field of research. Successful application of this analysis with respect to bio-activity is hampered by inconsistent analysis, difficult to repeat results, and extraordinarily low throughput. We have developed a workflow that counteracts several of the difficulties often encountered when assigning glycosylation site-structure pairs. Difficulties often found include peptides too large for accurate mass determination, hard to confirm structures due to multiple sites, and enzymatic resistance to the proteolysis. Our method avoids these problems by using a host of site-specific and nonspecific proteases to generate glycopeptides depending on the specific need. Using our own software platform we are able to analyze all of the data in a directly comparable manner.

Methods
Both in-gel and in-solution digestions are used, although in-gel digestion provides sensitivity advantages. Shortly, 10 ?g of a target protein is reduced and alkylated prior to running on SDS-PAGE. Gel bands are cut, destained, and dried in a speed-vac prior to digestion with trypsin, pronase, or elastase in ammonium bicarbonate buffer. After digesting overnight the glycopeptides are extracted. Samples were dried and resuspended in 20 ?L prior to analysis on an Agilent HPLC-Chip/TOF MS. The resulting data can be exported to MGF and analyzed with in-house software utilizing accurate mass and fragment scoring to confirm identification.

Preliminary Results/Abstract
As a general example of the differences in digestion procedures, bovine fetuin and horseradish peroxidase serve as useful examples of potential pitfalls and benefits of each method. Horseradish perodidase is especially interesting because biochemical tools to cleave glycans in the presence of ?(1-3) linked fucose on the core glucoseamine are still new and difficult to obtain.

The N-glycosylation sites of bovine fetuin are an excellent example of why multiple proteases should be used to elucidate site-specific structures. Using the standard workflow of tryptic digestion, N-glycans on sites 99, 156, and 176 can be found in peptides of length 32, 15, and 28 respectively. When the potential for a single missed cleavage is taken into account peptides of length 49, 43, and 52 are possible. Using elastase as a proteolytic enzyme, peptides are much shorter, 4, 7, and 10 amino acids long at minimum and 11, 18, and 15 amino acids long with one missed cleavage. These small peptides are much easier to detect and have easier to interpret CID spectra. A further step we take is the use of nonspecific proteases; with nonspecific digestion peptides are observed from length 2 to 10 at all eight sites.As an additional example, horseradish peroxidase has eight glycosylation sites. Site 43, 216, and 228 are difficult to analyze by tryptic digestion due to the large peptide generated at site 43 and the fact that sites 216 and 218 share a tryptic peptide. While elastase could aid in the assignment of site 43, it actually complicates the assignment of site 216 and 228 further since the smallest peptide includes site 244 as well. Pronase performs excellently on this protein producing many peptides at each site from 2 to 10 amino acids long.

 

 

Stability Analysis of Oligosaccharides

Lauren_2

Authors
Lauren D. Wu; Angela Zivkovic; Sarah Totten; L. Renee Ruhaak; Carlito B. Lebrilla

Institutes
University of California, Davis, CA


Novel Aspect
The stability of oligosaccharides in human breast milk during sample handling and storage is assessed for the first time.

Introduction
Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) are one of the more abundant bioactives in human milk. They are now known to influence the development of healthy bacteria in the infant’s gut. Recently, our group has developed a TOF-MS based analytical method, including an extensive library, for the in-depth characterization of a mother’s HMO profile. Using this method, we have shown variations in HMO composition between different mothers, but limited effort has been made to assess sample stability during storage and sample handling. Therefore, we here assess the effects of long-term storage (>1 year) and multiple freeze-thaw cycles on the HMO profile of a donor milk sample.

Methods
Fresh breast milk (BM) was obtained from a single donor mother and was aliquoted and stored at -80°C. The HMOs from one aliquot were extracted immediately (BM Fresh), while another was stored for 1 year (BM Storage). BM Fresh was processed under consecutive freeze-thaw cycles in the same day it was received, with HMO separation and purification following each thaw cycle. HMOs were analyzed using nano-LC/MS and were stored for one year to observe the stability of purified compounds. BM Storage was processed under the same conditions and analyzed alongside the HMOs purified one year earlier. Upon data processing, absolute abundances were compared between samples analyzed within the same instrumental run, and relative abundances were assessed between runs.

Preliminary Results/Abstract

Using the obtained three data sets (BM fresh, BM Fresh at year 1, and BM Storage), we were able to observe oligosaccharide stability after freeze-thaw cycles, purified HMO stability, and long-term storage including its effect on freeze-thaw cycles. We first focused on the effects of unstable temperature conditions, where we compared a fresh milk sample to multiple freeze-thaw cycles using absolute abundance in ion counts and percent relative abundances. There was a significant difference in absolute abundance of total sialylated compounds in two of the cycles, but no distinct pattern. The purified HMOs were saved to test the stability of purified compounds after one year. There were no significant differences between each freeze-thaw cycle.

We then tested storage stability by comparing the HMOs from a fresh milk sample to the same milk that was stored frozen. These samples were analyzed one year apart using the same instrument parameters. Because of the interday instrument variation, we only assessed relative abundances. Fucosylation and sialylation in purified HMOs and extracted HMOs from frozen samples were more abundant than HMOs extracted from fresh milk, while non-fucosylated neutrals were lower in abundance.

To observe how storage affects the compound stability during freeze-thaw cycles, we extracted HMOs from frozen milk samples and processed them in the same conditions. There was no distinct trend of HMOs increasing or decreasing in relative or absolute abundances between the first freeze-thaw cycle to each subsequent set. The compounds in this batch seemed to remain relatively stable even after one year of storage.

Although there is some variation in sialylation during freeze-thaw cycles, HMOs do not exhibit a distinct pattern where oligosaccharides can be assumed to be degrading. While other biomolecules are known to change after unstable sample handling and storage conditions, these factors are insignificant to HMO analysis.

 

 

A systems approach to protein-specific glycosylation analyses of serum glycoproteins for cancer diagnosis.

Renee

Authors
Renee Ruhaak1; Carol Stroble1, 2; Qiuting Hong1; Suzanne Miyamoto2; Kyoungmi Kim1; Gary Leiserowitz2; Carlito Lebrilla1

Institutes
1UC Davis, Davis, CA; 2UC Davis Medical Center, Sacramento, CA


Novel Aspect
A QQQ-MS approach is presented for the discovery and validation of serum protein and glycopeptide levels as discriminators of disease.

Introduction
Protein glycosylation has been proposed as a new source of potential biomarkers for diseases as diverse as cancer and infection. We have previously reported on the use of serum glycans for the diagnosis of ovarian cancer (OC). However, these studies have focused on released glycans thereby eliminating protein-specific information. Shotgun glycoproteomics analyses, which would provide protein-specific information, have thus far not been widely successful due to the large heterogeneity in protein glycosylation. Instead, we have focused on protein-specific glycosylation using a targeted approach. Multiple reaction monitoring on QQQ-MS is an excellent tool for protein- and site- specific quantification of protein glycosylation. We developed transitions for many abundant serum proteins, and apply the method towards glycopeptide biomarker discovery for ovarian cancer.

Methods
Protein standards were used to develop MRM transitions. Standards of the 9 proteins immunogobulin G (IgG), immunoglobulin A (IgA), immunoglobulin M (IgM), haptoglobin (HP), transferrin (TF), alpha-1-acid glycoprotein (AGP), alpha-1- antitrypsin (A1AT), alpha-2-macroglobulin (A2MG) and complement C3 (C3) were treated with DTT and IAA prior to digestion using trypsin as well as trypsin/chymotrypsin. First, their site-specific glycosylation patterns were determined using nLC-chip-Q-TOF mass spectrometry. Subsequently, quantitative MRM transitions were developed for peptides and glycopeptides using UPLC-QQQ-MS. The absolute protein concentration was determined using the peptide signals. Glycopeptide signals were normalized to the absolute protein amount to determine the protein- and site- specific glycosylation pattern. The method was applied to serum samples of ovarian cancer patients and their controls.

Preliminary Results/Abstract
For each of the proteins, site-specific glycosylation patterns were determined using literature search and Q-TOF fragmentation data. Based on these data, transitions were developed corresponding to glycopeptides as well as nonglycosylated peptides, where the latter allows for protein quantification. The proteins IgG, IgA, IgM, HP, TF, AGP, A1AT, A2MG and C3 were targeted thus far. For each of the glycopeptides, transitions were developed to fragments with m/z 204 (HexNAc) or m/z 366 (Hex-HexNAc), except for high-mannose glycopeptides where transitions were developed to the peptide+HexNAc fragment. The method is highly accurate with RSD’s reported for the glycopeptides of less than 10%.
The method was applied to a sample set of 40 ovarian cancer cases and their age-matched controls for biomarker discovery. Levels of 18 glycopeptides of IgG, 13 glycopeptides of IgA and 10 glycopeptides of IgM were shown to alter significantly (either over- or under-expressed) with OC at a false discovery rate of <0.05. Multiplex classifiers combining multiple glycopeptides together were developed for each of the proteins with the highest accuracy for determining ovarian cancer of 91.1% when combining five glycopeptides of IgG. For IgA, multiplexing resulted in a highest accuracy of 88%, while the highest accuracy was 80% for IgM.
The method was then applied to an independent test set for validation. When testing the multiplex classifiers developed using the training set in samples of the independent test set, classification accuracies of cancer state of 90%, 80% and 74% were achieved for IgG, IgA and IgM, respectively. We are currently developing a model combining the glycopeptides from the different proteins that could allow the definition of a targeted QQQ-based OC diagnostic test with greater accuracy. This is the first attempt at quantitation of the glycosylation of several proteins simultaneously and shows the potential of targeted glycopeptide analysis as a diagnostic tool.

 

Absolute Quantitation of Human Milk Proteins and their Glycoforms using Multiple Reaction Monitoring (MRM)

Jincui Huang
Authors

Jincui Huang; Qiuting Hong; Rocchina Sabia; Carlito Lebrilla

Institutes
UC Davis, Davis, CA


Novel Aspect
Rapid-throughput method of quantitation of human milk proteins and their glycoforms was developed.

Introduction
Human milk has long been recognized as not only a source of nutrition but for a number of functional components to the newborn. Milk proteins are highly glycosylated, yet the roles of glycosylation in the function of milk is limited by the lack of tools to quantitate various protein glycoforms. We have developed a new MRM approach to quantitate human milk proteins and their glycosylation, giving the capability to monitor glycosylation at site-specific level. The process involves identifying the best peptides for protein quantitation, mapping the site-specific glycan heterogeneity of the glycoproteins, and characterizing the fragmentation patterns of specific glycopeptides to determine the best transitions for MRM. The method advances our understanding of the role of glycan-conjugates in human health.

Methods
Quantitation of human milk proteins and their peptide-conjugated glycans directly facilitates the differential analysis of distinct glycoforms associated with the state of lactation. To be useful, the method must be rapid throughput. In a 96-well plate, standard protein mixture (200 µg of human lactoferrin, ?-lactalbumin, 100 µg of IgA, and 20 µg of IgG, IgM, antitrysin and lysozyme) and 25 µL of human milk samples were reduced and alkylated prior to trypsin digestion at 37?C for 18 hr. The resulting peptides and glycopeptides were cleaned and enriched via solid phase extraction (SPE) with C-18 cartridges. The mixture was profiled using nano-LC-chip-QTOF mass spectrometer and quantified using UPLC-ESI-QqQ mass spectrometer.

Preliminary Results/Abstract
Our strategy allows both the determination of protein concentrations as well as the absolute and relative abundances of the different glycoforms in a given sample. The proteins, human lactoferrin (hLF), ?-lactalbumin, IgA, IgG, IgM, lysozyme and antitrypsin, are the most abundant in milk and represent nearly 80% of the whey protein abundances. For each protein two or three unique peptides were identified as being robust for quantitation. Nano?ow LC?MS analysis with the Q-TOF instrument allowed identi?cation of the glycopeptides (from hLF, IgA, IgM, IgG and antitrypsin) based on the accurate mass and the tandem MS. Glycopeptides were characterized by their fragmentation pattern to obtain the best transitions. For example, hLF has three potential N-glycosylation sites, but only two glycosites were occupied having mainly complex type N-glycans. In total, more than 10 glycoforms were observed at Asn156 and 5 glycoforms were present at Asn497.
UPLC separation allowed rapid-throughput quantitation using a 16-min gradient for monitoring hundreds of peptide and glycopeptide transitions. Over 100 glycopeptides were monitored from the five glycoproteins.
This rapid-throughput platform was tested for its reproducibility and accuracy, and applied to a clinical study with 171 human milk samples from 46 mothers at four time points during lactation. Within a 2-day run, protein concentration and protein glycosylation level were monitored and quantitated. hLF concentration decreased from 2.3 mg/ to 1.5 mg/mL, while ?-lactalbumin remained around 3.8 mg/mL over lactation. Lysozyme was the only protein found increasing concentration from 0.08 mg/mL to 0.16 mg/mL. By normalizing the glycopeptide signals to the protein abundances, hLF glycosylation at both glycosites showed a four-fold decrease during lactation.

 

Glycan Site Mapping of Glycoproteins in Serum

Qiuting

Authors
Qiuting Hong; Evan Parker; Ting Song; Carlito Lebrilla

Institutes
Chemsitry, UC, Davis, Davis, CA


Novel Aspect
A comprehensive site-specific glycan map for plasma glycoproteins

Introduction
Glycosylation analysis on the site-specific level provides both protein and glycosylation information to facilitate biomarker discovery. However, site-specific analysis remains a difficult task, and there is no comprehensive glycan map even for the most abundant plasma glycoproteins. We are in the process of mapping the glycosylation and the site-specific heterogeneity in plasma proteins. Trypsin produces consistent peptides for quantitation but may provide limited glycosite information. Nonspecific protease yields better glycosite coverage but data analysis is complicated. To obtain comprehensive glycan maps several protease methods are used. A software tool for examining tandem MS of glycopeptides is also proven to be highly useful. The method can be applied to any glycoprotein and will further facilitate our efforts on disease biomarker discovery.

Methods
Glycosylation analysis was performed on commercially available plasma proteins including IgG, IgM, IgA, transferrin, haptoglobin, alpha-2-macroglobulin, alpha-1-antitrypsin, C3 complement, and alpha-1-acid glycoprotein. Glycopeptides were profiled using an Agilent 6520 nano-LC-Chip/QTOF MS, and identified using in-house software, GPFinder. Both trypsin and pronase (nonspecific protease), using both in-gel and in-solution digestion techniques, were applied to obtain a more comprehensive glycan map. Proteins were treated with DTT and IAA before enzyme digestion in a 37?C water bath. Trypsin digestions were performed overnight, and the resulting mixtures were used directly for LC-MS analysis. Pronase digestions were performed 1 hour for the in-gel and 3 hours for the in-solution approaches. The resulting sample was purified using C18 or graphitized zip-tip before MS analysis.

Preliminary Results/Abstract
We have determined the site-specific glycosylation of the top 10 plasma glycoproteins using both specific and nonspecific proteolysis. Many of these proteins have only partial assignments or no site-specific assignments for protein glycosylation, despite being the most abundant proteins. For proteins, like alpha-2-marcoglobulin that have fewer lysine and arginine, trypsin produces large glycopeptides and multiple glycosites on single peptides. For alpha-2-marcoglobulin, only one glycosite (N1424) can be mapped out using trypsin. Pronase produces smaller peptides and yields site-specific glycoform information for all eight glycosites of alpha-2-marcoglobulin. It was found that glycosites N247, N410, N869 have both high mannose type and sialylated complex type glycans, whereas the other five glycosites contain sialylated and neutral complex type glycans.
For some proteins, the enzymes provide complimentary information. Take IgA as an example, trypsin digestion provides glycosylation information for three out of seven glycosites, N144(IgA1), N131(IgA2), and N205(IgA2). Pronase digestion was found to yield glycan information the same sites N144(IgA1) and N131(IgA2), but also other sites N340(IgA1). Glycoforms on glycosite N340(IgA1) and N205(IgA2) are all fucosylated, while glycoforms on N144(IgA1) and N131(IgA2) are all nonfucosylated. No glycans were detected on the remaining sites and are believed to unoccupied in our protein standard.
In summary, a comprehensive glycan map for 43 glycosites from the 10 most abundant plasma glycoproteins has been obtained using different proteolysis approaches and the in-house software, GPFinder. We showed that glycoforms are very specific on different glycosites. This study is part of a larger one where we plan to map protein glycosylation in plasma proteins beginning with the most abundant proteins. The site-specific glycosylation for low abundant plasma proteins will be investigated using protein enrichment methods to facilitate their analyses.

 

Method for analysis of glycan degradation products in the feces of breast-fed newborns

DSC07954


Authors

Jasmine C. C. Davis; Sarah M. Totten; Carlito B. Lebrilla

Institutes
UC Davis, Davis, CA


Novel Aspect
This research aimed to create a library of intact and degraded milk glycans found in infant feces from microbial catabolism.

Introduction
Oligosaccharides continue to be one of the most difficult biomolecules to analyze. Analysis is, however, aided by the use of biological rules followed by glycosyl transferases and glycosidases in their modification of the nascent glycan structure. Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) will interact with bacteria in the infant’s digestive tract, but the nature of these interactions is often unknown. Furthermore, the interactions often lead to the production of new types of oligosaccharides that are degradation products from the bacterial consumption. In this this research, we developed a method for determining glycan products due to the interactions of bacteria with glycoconjugates in milk. We are able to rapidly identify glycan structures and correlate the enzymes responsible for those oligosaccharide products.

Methods
Fecal samples were diluted and shaken overnight. Proteins in the supernatant were precipitated with ethanol, and the resulting glycans were reduced to their alditol form with NaBH4. The samples were cleaned up with solid phase extraction, the eluents evaporated, and before analysis the samples were reconstituted in water.

Extracted glycans were analyzed on a nano-HPLC-Chip/TOF MS system followed by identification and quantitation with Agilent Mass Hunter Qualitative Analysis. Structures were confirmed using collision induced dissociation (CID) on a nano-HPLC-Chip/Q-TOF MS.

To monitor bacterial consumption, an HMO pool was digested with a ß-galactosidase, incubated, and C18 zip-tip cleaned up. Spectra of the consumed HMOs were compared to that of the undigested HMO pool, and CID was used for structural confirmation.

Preliminary Results/Abstract
Consumption studies were performed to determine the degradation products of a ß-galactosidase strain, as well as the specificity of that strain. Our intact HMO library contains specific linkages of isomers, so we are able to determine the specificity of the enzyme by comparing the spectra and abundances of isomers from an undigested HMO pool with the consumed pool. The masses and compositions of the digested products were added to a previous HMO library in order to create a fecal library.

Not only are there exoglycosidases that cleave glycans, but there are also enzymes that can cleave N-glycans from glycoproteins. There are no free N-glycans in breast milk, but they were discovered in the fecal samples analyzed, so those structures, along with their degraded products, were also taken into account. Compositions of intact N-glycans from a theoretical library were added to the fecal library.

Structures of the extracted glycans, both intact and degraded, were confirmed using CID. The CID spectra of the N-glycans were not consistent with the N-glycans containing their intact chitobiose core, and it appeared that the N-acetylglucosamines (GlcNAcs) on their reducing ends were missing from their structures, suggesting the glycan was cleaved by an endoglycosidase. The possible digested N-glycans were also added to the fecal library to incorporate all possible glycan compositions.

Our library was created with specific isomer information, with identification based on composition, exact mass, and retention time. We can monitor the identified degradation products in fecal samples based on the data from the consumption studies. It is possible to tell the difference between most HMOs and N-glycans based on their differences in composition and retention times. HMOs and N-glycans both have specific biological rules in how glycosyl transferases add monosaccharides to their core structures, so there are certain compositions that either glycan can have.

 

An Application of Mass Spectrometry for the Detection of Chemical Markers for Product Traceability

Evan Parker

Authors
Evan Parker; Carlito Lebrilla

Institutes
UC Davis, Davis, CA


Novel Aspect
First application of monodisperse polymers for encoding information in materials. Derivative methods could lead to commodity utility of mass spectrometry.

Introduction
Product safety of pharmaceuticals and food products being of paramount, industry expends great effort in the tracking and validation of product source and identity throughout the supply chain. Here, a method is described that uses a food safe, GRAS status, oligomer marker to encode binary information in bulk materials. Similar methods employ the use of dyes, fluorescent compounds, nanoparticles, microfabricated markers, and macroscopic markers. These methods tend to be either costly or easily replicated while often having the benefit of easy detection. In our method a host of monodisperse formulated polyethylene glycol oligomers can be added to a product to encode binary information detected and can be easily with MALDI MS.

Methods
We are using oligomers of polyethylene glycol (PEG) as single-unit characters in our encoding scheme. This category of molecule is useful because it is inert, nontoxic, and synthetic methods exist that would allow preparation at scale. As a proof of concept, eight oligomers of this compound ranging in length from 11 to 19 subunits were fractionated by reversed phase HPLC. The oligomers are then added to test mixtures and detected using MALDI mass spectrometry with DHB matrix. Both MALDI FT-ICR and MALDI-TOF were used to test the method. To find limits of detection we doped dilutions of a polydisperse mixture of PEG 600 into various matrices. Clear detection of the most abundant eight peaks constituted a positive hit.

Preliminary Results/Abstract
To prepare peg monomers, reversed phase chromatography was employed to separate mixtures of PEG 600 and PEG 1000 into their monodisperse components. Monitoring the absorption trace at 192 nanometers showed clear baseline separation even in overloading conditions necessary for preparation. Using this method, between 0.5 and 1 mg of each of the purified monodisperse components from 10 to 20 subunits long were collected. These collected markants were doped at approximately 100 ppm into both water and milk as a proof of concept for the actual encoding of information. We used mass spectrometry to collect the codes 11111111, 01001101, and 01010011 encoding to binary 255, and ASCII M and S respectively.
Using serial dilutions of polydisperse peg 600 we show that acceptable signal to noise can be achieved at concentration of 1 ppm by mass. To prove the utility of the markant in complex samples, various concentrations of the polydisperse solution were added to whole milk. We have shown that PEG can be readily detected at 50 ppm with a simple cleanup procedure entailing centrifugation and reversed phase SPE. To confirm the method’s utility as a surface marker, various amounts were sprayed on the surface of a cantaloupe and, after a week of storage on a shelf, PEGs were recovered via an extraction procedure entailing the peeling of the cantaloupe and vortexing of diced peel with water. We showed that the detection limit is below 0.1% spray concentration or 4 mg per 100 square centimeters or, roughly 50 mg for a 20 cm diameter cantaloupe that has been uniformly treated.

 

Peptidomics of human milk during lactation and mastitis

Andres - Copy

Authors
Andres GuerreroStephanie ContrerasDave Dallas; Lauren Wu; Jennifer Smilowitz; Daniela Barile; Bruce German; Carlito Lebrilla

Institutes
University of California, Davis, Davis, CA


Novel Aspect
Peptidomics analysis of milk yields bioactive peptides that vary during lactation and disease.

Introduction
Human milk, as other biofluids, contains proteolytic enzymes that produce endogenous peptides. A library of endogenous peptides found in human milk with post-translational modifications was created through the use of nano-LC and tandem mass spectrometry. This library was used to develop a method to identify peptides rapidly allowing monitoring with quantitation nearly 1000 peptides with nano-LC MS. The method was used to examine changes in the peptide abundances during lactation. A comprehensive understanding of the endogenous proteolytic activity in human milk can be achieved to compare different milk samples. In addition because many of the peptides have antimicrobial activity, we examined the effect of peptide production and abundances during diseases such as mastitis infection.

Methods
Peptide separation was performed using 25 ?L of human milk that was spiked with an internal standard. The samples were defatted and trichloroacetic acid was added to precipitate the peptides. The samples were cleaned up by solid phase extraction using a C-18 column. The samples were analyzed on a nano-LC Q-TOF with a C-18 chip to obtain MS and MS/MS data. The tandem mass spectrometry information from each sample was exported as an MGF file and uploaded to X! tandem to identify peptides present in each milk sample analyzed. When the peptides in milk were identified an in-house software was used to visualize the most abundant peptides present within a protein.

Preliminary Results/Abstract
The peptide milk library contains peptide fragments from different proteins along with their masses, retention times, and post-translational modifications that may occur on certain amino acids that include phosphorylation, oxidation, deamination, and water loss. The peptide milk library was used to identify peptides from different proteins of mothers with and without mastitis. Based on the analysis, we found that the vast majority of the peptides came from five proteins in milk: ?-casein, ?-casein, polymeric immunoglobulin, osteopontin, and butryophilin. By using an in-house software we were able to assign the peptide fragments within these proteins and identify locations where the abundances varied the most. This software also allowed us to locate the peptides within these proteins that had phosphorylation sites. For example, with ?-casein the peptides that had 1, 2, and 3 phosphorylation sites were all located at the N-terminus of the protein, whereas the peptides with no phosphorylation sites where found throughout the protein. Analysis of milk from mothers with mastitis were performed. The total peptide abundances from five proteins were summed over several time points to determine whether peptide abundances varied during mastitis. There was a general trend of a decrease in the peptide abundances around the time the mother had mastitis.

 

Rapid Assays of Bacteria Binding to Oligosaccharides

DSC083120-2

Authors
Qian Wang1; Zachery Lewis2, 3; Andres Guerrero1; David Mills2, 3; Carlito Lebrilla1

Institutes
1Department of Chemistry, UC Davis, Davis, CA; 2Department of Viticulture & Enology, UC Davis, Davis, CA; 3Department of Food Science & Technology, UC Davis, Davis, CA


Novel Aspect
A fast and simple method employing direct MALDI MS to compare the affinities between oligosaccharides and bacteria.

Introduction
A necessary step of bacterial colonization and infection is the adherence of the bacteria to host cell surfaces. The adherence factors of bacteria are called adhesins, which consist of two major types: protein adhesins and carbohydrate adhesins. The adherence factors of host cells which adhesins recognize are called receptors, which are usually carbohydrate or peptide residues on the surface of host cells. The specific adherence of adhesins to receptors determines the tissue specificity of binding. In this study, the goal is to develop a rapid mass spectrometry method with the use of MALDI TOF/TOF mass spectrometer to analyze the specific affinities between different bacteria and oligosaccharides which are a major type of receptors.

Methods
First, oligosaccharides solutions are applied on the MALDI spots and the MALDI plate (with immobilized phenylboronic acid on the surface which is able to bind to oligosaccharides covalently) is incubated in humidified atmosphere. After that, the unbound oligosaccharides are washed away. Then bacteria suspension is applied on the MALDI spots and the MALDI plate is incubated at 37 oC. The unbound bacteria are washed away after incubation (For the control spots, unbound bacteria are not washed away). Lastly the matrix is applied and mass spectra are obtained. If the mass spectrum matches that of the control spot, then the affinity is approved. If no (or weak) mass spectrum is observed then the affinity is disproved (or the affinity is weak).

Preliminary Data
We studied the amount of oligosaccharides to saturate the MALDI spots. If the spots are not saturated by oligosaccharides, then bacteria may bind to the plate directly which will produce false signal. Different amounts of oligosaccharides were applied on each spot and mass spectra were obtained. Starting from the spot with 10-10 mole oligosaccharides, the peak of sodiated molecular ion of the oligosaccharide was observed suggesting that the spot had been saturated. So 10-10 mole of oligosaccharides is enough to saturate a spot.

The mass spectra of the control spots were obtained. Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis ATCC 15697, a commensal bacteria abundant in breast fed infants, Lacto-N-tetraose, disialyllacto-N-tetraose, 3-sialyllactose, 3’-sialyllactose, 6’-sialyllactose and Lewis B tetrasaccharide were used to probe the binding interactions. Bacteria that were bound to the specific oligosaccharide-activated surfaces were analyzed by direct MALDI. The mass spectra from these compounds were the same suggesting that mass spectra were not dependent on the oligosaccharides. Escherichia Coli DH5-alpha was also applied to the surface. These bacteria yielded spectra that were distinct from B. infantis. The mass spectra of B. infantis and E. Coli with the same oligosaccharide are unique and reproducible suggesting that this method is able to differentiate different types of bacteria. An effective washing method to remove unbound bacteria was developed to probe the various bacterial surface and determine the specific affinity of the bacteria to the oligosaccharides.

 

 

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