A proteomic approach to the analysis of RNA degradosome composition in Escherichia coli.

The RNA degradosome is a bacterial protein machine devoted to RNA degradation and processing. In Escherichia coli, it is typically composed of the endoribonuclease RNase E, which also serves as a scaffold for the other components: the exoribonuclease PNPase, the RNA helicase RhlB, and enolase. The variable presence of additional proteins, however, suggests that the degradosome is a flexible machine that may vary its composition in response to different conditions. Direct analysis of large protein complexes, together with simplified purification procedures, can facilitate qualitative and quantitative identification of RNA degradosome components under different physiologic and genetic conditions and can help to explain their role in the bacterial cell (see also Chapters 4, 11, 19, 20 and 22 regarding methods for the studying the degradosome and other multiprotein complexes in this volume. Herewith we describe the application of multidimensional protein identification technology (MudPIT) in the rapid and quantitative identification of RNA degradosome components. RNA degradosome preparations obtained from specific conditions are enzymatically digested. The resulting peptides are fractionated using two-dimensional (ion-exchange and reversed-phase) chromatography and analyzed by tandem mass spectrometry. Bioinformatic analysis with the SEQUEST algorithm, which correlates experimentally obtained mass spectra with those predicted from peptide sequences in proteomic and translated genomic databases, allows identification of the corresponding proteins that compose the complex. The protein constituents of two or more degradosome samples are then compared to obtain a rapid evaluation of qualitative and quantitative differences in protein composition. Quantitative analysis is based on the observation that changes in relative protein abundance among different samples are reflected by statistical parameters (score values) assigned to each protein component of the RNA degradosome identified by the MudPIT approach. This correlation can be validated by independent methods such as Western blotting and determination of enzymatic activities. This fully automated procedure may be applied to the characterization of any complex protein mixture.