Genome-wide identification and quantification of protein synthesis in cultured cells and whole tissues by puromycin-associated nascent chain proteomics (PUNCH-P)

[Orbitrap_SciLib]

Aviner R, Geiger T, Elroy-Stein O.
Nat Protoc. 2014 Apr;9(4):751-60. doi: 10.1038/nprot.2014.051. Epub 2014 Mar 6.
Regulation of mRNA translation has a pivotal role in modulating protein levels, and the genome-wide identification of proteins synthesized at a given time is indispensable to our understanding of gene expression. This protocol describes the mass-spectrometric analysis of newly synthesized proteins from cultured cells or whole tissues by using a biotinylated derivative of puromycin, which becomes incorporated into nascent polypeptide chains by ribosome catalysis. In this method, termed puromycin-associated nascent chain proteomics (PUNCH-P), intact ribosome-nascent chain complexes are first recovered from cells by ultracentrifugation, followed by biotin-puromycin labeling of newly synthesized proteins, streptavidin affinity purification and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Unlike methods that require in vivo labeling, the sensitivity and coverage of PUNCH-P depend only on the amount of starting material and not on the duration of labeling, thus enabling the measurement of rapid fluctuations in protein synthesis. The protocol requires 3 d for sample preparation and analysis.

http://www.nature.com/nprot/journal/v9/n4/full/nprot.2014.051.html
Tel Aviv University