Thorpe, A. L. | Search bioRxiv

bioRxiv2019

A systems chemoproteomic analysis of acyl-CoA signaling networks

Acyl-CoA/protein interactions are required for many functions essential to life including membrane synthesis, oxidative metabolism, and macromolecular acetylation. However, despite their importance, the global scope and selectivity of these protein-metabolite interactions remains undefined. Here we describe the development of CATNIP (CoA/AcetylTraNsferase Interaction Profiling), a chemoproteomic platform for the high-throughput analysis of acyl-CoA/protein interactions in endogenous proteomes. First, we apply CATNIP to identify acetyl-CoA-binding proteins through unbiased clustering of competitive dose-response data. Next, we use this method to profile diverse protein-CoA metabolite interactions, identifying biological processes susceptible to altered acetyl-CoA levels. Finally, we apply systems-level analyses to assess the features of novel protein networks that may interact with acyl-CoAs, and demonstrate a strategy for high-confidence proteomic annotation of acetyl-CoA binding proteins. Overall our studies illustrate the power of integrating chemoproteomics and systems biology, and provide a resource for understanding the roles of acyl-CoA metabolites in biology and disease.

biochemistry↗

bioRxiv2018

A chemoproteomic portrait of the oncometabolite fumarate

Hereditary cancer disorders often provide an important window into novel mechanisms supporting tumor growth and survival. Understanding these mechanisms and developing biomarkers to identify their presence thus represents a vital goal. Towards this goal, here we report a chemoproteomic map of the covalent targets of fumarate, an oncometabolite whose accumulation marks the genetic cancer predisposition syndrome hereditary leiomyomatosis and renal cell carcinoma (HLRCC). First, we validate the ability of known and novel chemoproteomic probes to report on fumarate reactivity in vitro. Next, we apply these probes in concert with LC-MS/MS to identify cysteine residues sensitive to either fumarate treatment or fumarate hydratase (FH) mutation in untransformed and human HLRCC cell models, respectively. Mining this data to understand the structural determinants of fumarate reactivity reveals an unexpected anti-correlation with nucleophilicity, and the discovery of a novel influence of pH on fumarate-cysteine interactions. Finally, we show that many fumarate-sensitive and FH-regulated cysteines are found in functional protein domains, and perform mechanistic studies of a fumarate-sensitive cysteine in SMARCC1 that lies at a key protein-protein interface in the SWI-SNF tumor suppressor complex. Our studies provide a powerful resource for understanding the influence of fumarate on reactive cysteine residues, and lay the foundation for future efforts to exploit this distinct aspect of oncometabolism for cancer diagnosis and therapy.

cancer biology↗