In vivo phosphorylation site mapping in mouse cardiac troponin I by high resolution top-down electron capture dissociation mass spectrometry: Ser22/23 are the only sites basally phosphorylated.

Cardiac troponin I (cTnI) is the inhibitory subunit of cardiac troponin, a key myofilament regulatory protein complex located on the thin filaments of the contractile apparatus. cTnI is uniquely specific for the heart and is widely used in clinics as a serum biomarker for cardiac injury. Phosphorylation of cTnI plays a critical role in modulating cardiac function. cTnI is known to be regulated by protein kinase A and protein kinase C at five sites, Ser22/Ser23, Ser42/44, and Thr143, primarily based on results from in vitro phosphorylation assays by the specific kinase(s). However, a comprehensive characterization of phosphorylation of mouse cTnI occurring in vivo has been lacking. Herein, we have employed top-down mass spectrometry (MS) methodology with electron capture dissociation for precise mapping of in vivo phosphorylation sites of cTnI affinity purified from wild-type and transgenic mouse hearts. As demonstrated, top-down MS (analysis of intact proteins) is an extremely valuable technology for global characterization of labile phosphorylation occurring in vivo without a priori knowledge. Our top-down MS data unambiguously identified Ser22/23 as the only two sites basally phosphorylated in wild-type mouse cTnI with full sequence coverage, which was confirmed by the lack of phosphorylation in cTnI-Ala(2) transgenic mice where Ser22/23 in cTnI have been rendered nonphosphorylatable by mutation to alanine.