Use of isotopic signatures for mass spectral detection of protein adduction by chemically reactive metabolites of bromobenzene: studies with model proteins.

The cytotoxicity of many small organic compounds often apparently derives from their metabolic activation and covalent binding to cellular proteins. It is therefore of considerable interest to be able to determine, for a given protoxin, which metabolites modify which proteins at which sites. Our laboratory has identified more than 45 target proteins for bromobenzene metabolites in liver by peptide mass mapping after two-dimensional electrophoresis. Through all of this work, we have never observed a bromine-containing peptide. We therefore generated model adducted proteins by carbodiimide coupling of Nalpha-acetyl-Ntau-(p-bromophenyl)-L-histidine (1) and Nalpha-acetyl-Nepsilon-(p-bromophenyl)-L-lysine (2) to bovine pancreatic ribonuclease A. For the adducts, RNase-(1)n and RNase-(2)n, mass spectrometry indicated that n = 0-2 and 0-6, respectively. RNase-(2)n was submitted to in-gel and in-solution digestion with trypsin, and the digests were analyzed by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) and liquid chromatgraphy electrospray ionization MS (LC/ESI-MS) and tandem MS (MS/MS). Sequence coverages observed ranged from 67% with only three modified lysines observed using in-gel digestion and MALDI-TOF analysis, to 100% coverage with all 10 lysines observed in both modified and unmodified form using in-solution digestion and LC/ESI-MS. In the mass spectra of all modified peptides up to 2000 Da, the bromine isotope pattern was obvious by visual inspection; for peptides up to 3600 Da, the isotopic signature could be recognized by visual comparison to simulated spectra. The presence of Br-containing adducts was confirmed by MS/MS analysis of selected peptides. The selection of peaks for MS/MS analysis was significantly facilitated by visual recognition of the bromine isotope pattern, even at signal-to-noise ratios of 10 (or lower in favorable cases). These results indicate that stable isotope labeling may have considerable potential for detecting and locating protein adducts of reactive metabolites.