Project description:Post-transcriptional modifications to messenger RNAs (mRNAs) have the potential to alter the biological function of this important class of biomolecules. The study of mRNA modifications is a rapidly emerging field, and the full complement of chemical modifications in mRNAs is not yet established. We sought to identify and quantify the modifications present in yeast mRNAs using an ultra-high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method to detect 40 nucleoside variations in parallel. We observe six modified nucleosides with high confidence in highly purified mRNA samples (N7-methylguanosine, N6-methyladenosine, 2’-O-methylguanosine, 2’-O-methylcytidine, N4-acetylcytidine and 5-formylcytidine), and identify the yeast protein responsible for N4-acetylcytidine incorporation in mRNAs, Rra1. Additionally, we find that mRNA modification levels change in response to heat shock, glucose starvation and/or oxidative stress. This work expands the repertoire of potential chemical modifications in mRNAs, and highlights the value of integrating mass spectrometry tools in the mRNA modification discovery and characterization pipeline.
Project description:Human cells produce thousands of lipids that impact biological processes in ways we are only starting to characterize. The cellular composition in lipids changes during differentiation and also varies across individual cells of the same type. Yet, whether and how cell-to-cell differences in lipid composition affect cell phenotypes remain unknown. Here we have measured the lipidomes and transcriptomes of individual human dermal fibroblasts by coupling high-resolution mass spectrometry imaging to single-cell transcriptomics. We find that the cell-to-cell variation of specific lipid metabolic pathways contributes to the establishment of cell states involved in the organization of skin architecture. In fact, sphingolipid composition defines fibroblast subpopulations and its metabolic rewiring drives cell state transitions. These data uncover a role for cell-to-cell lipid heterogeneity in the determination of cell states and reveal a new regulatory component to the self-organization of multicellular systems.
Project description:Integrin alpha3beta1, a major epidermal adhesion receptor is critical for organization of the basement membrane during development and wound healing. Integrin alpha3 deficiency leads to interstitial lung disease, nephrotic syndrome and epidermolysis bullosa (ILNEB), an autosomal recessive multiorgan disease characterized by basement membrane abnormalities in skin, lung and kidney. The pathogenetic chains from ITGA3 mutation to tissue abnormalities are still unclear. Although integrin 3 was reported to regulate multiple extracellular proteins, the composition of the extracellular compartment of integrin alpha3-negative keratinocytes has not been resolved so far. In a comprehensive approach, quantitative proteomics of deposited extracellular matrix, conditioned cultured media as well as of the intracellular compartment of keratinocytes isolated from an ILNEB patient and from normal skin were performed. By mass spectrometry-based proteomics, 167 proteins corresponding to the GO terms “extracellular” and “cell adhesion”, or included in the “human matrisome” were identified in the deposited extracellular matrix, and 217 in the conditioned media of normal human keratinocytes. In the absence of integrin alpha3, 33% and 26% respectively were dysregulated. Dysregulated proteins were functionally related to integrin alpha3 or were known interaction partners. The results show that in the absence of integrin alpha3 ILNEB keratinocytes produce a fibronectin-rich microenvironment and make use of fibronectin-binding integrin subunits alphav and alpha5.
Project description:Bulk and single-cell RNA sequencing do not provide full characterization of tissue spatial diversity in cancer samples, and currently available in situ techniques (multiplex immunohistochemistry, imaging mass cytometry) allow for only limited analysis of a small number of targets. The current study represents the first comprehensive approach to spatial transcriptomics of high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma using intact tumor tissue. We selected a small cohort of patients with highly annotated high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma, categorized them by response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (poor or excellent), and analyzed pre-treatment tumor tissue specimens. Our study uncovered extensive differences in tumor composition between the poor responders and excellent responders to chemotherapy, related to cell cluster organization and localization. This in-depth characterization of high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma tumor tissue from poor and excellent responders showed that spatial interactions between cell clusters may influence chemo-responsiveness more than cluster composition alone.
Project description:RNA sequencing of A431 cell line samples before and after gefitinib treatment, at 0, 2, 6 and 24 hours, was performed in order to characterize the cell line's early and late response to this drug, and to compare against proteomics (mass spectrometry) characterization of the cell line using the same setup. These data were used in Branca et al., HiRIEF LC-MS enables deep proteome coverage and unbiased proteogenomics., Nat Methods. 2014 Jan;11(1):59-62 (doi: 10.1038/nmeth.2732).
Project description:The interplay between pathogens and hosts has been studied for decades using targeted approaches such as the analysis of mutants and host immunological responses. Although much has been learned from such studies, they focus on individual pathways and fail to reveal the global effects of infection on the host. To alleviate this issue, high-throughput methods such as transcriptomics and proteomics have been used to study host-pathogen interactions. Recently, metabolomics was established as a new method to study changes in the biochemical composition of host tissues. We report a metabolomics study of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium infection. We used Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry with Direct Infusion to reveal that dozens of host metabolic pathways are affected by Salmonella in a murine infection model. In particular, multiple host hormone pathways are disrupted. Our results identify unappreciated effects of infection on host metabolism and shed light on mechanisms used by Salmonella to cause disease, and by the host to counter infection. Female C57BL/6 mice were infected with Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium SL1344 cells by oral gavage. Feces and livers were collected and metabolites extracted using acetonitrile. For experiments with feces, samples were collected from 4 mice before and after infection. For liver experiments, 11 uninfected and 11 infected mice were used. Samples were combined into 3 groups of 3-4 mice each, resulting in the analysis of 3 group samples of uninfected and 3 of infected mice. Extracts were infused into a 12-T Apex-Qe hybrid quadrupole-FT-ICR mass spectrometer equipped with an Apollo II electrospray ionization source, a quadrupole mass filter and a hexapole collision cell. Raw mass spectrometry data were processed as described elsewhere (Han et al. 2008. Metabolomics. 4:128-140 [PMID 19081807]). To identify differences in metabolite composition between uninfected and infected samples, we filtered the list of masses for metabolites which were present on one set of samples but not the other. Additionally, we calculated the ratios between averaged intensities of metabolites from uninfected and infected mice. To assign possible metabolite identities, monoisotopic neutral masses of interest were queried against MassTrix (http://masstrix.org). Masses were searched against the Mus musculus database within a mass error of 3 ppm. Data were analyzed by unpaired t tests with 95% confidence intervals.