New role for an old probe:: Affinity labeling of oxylipid protein conjugates by N′-aminooxymethylcarbonylhydrazino D-biotin

Free radicals, electrophiles, and endogenous reactive intermediates are generated during normal physiological processes and are capable of modifying DNA, lipids, and proteins. However, elevated levels of oxidative modifications of proteins by reactive species are implicated in the etiology and pathology of oxidative stress-mediated diseases, neurodegeneration, and aging. A mass spectrometry-based approach is reported that aids to the identification and characterization of carbonyl-modified proteins. The method uses N'-aminooxymethylcarbonylhydrazino D-biotin, a biotinylated hydroxylamine derivative that forms an oxime derivative with the aldehyde/keto group found in oxidatively modified proteins. In this paper, the method is demonstrated for one class of carbonyl-modified proteins, namely, oxylipid peptide and protein conjugates formed by Michael addition-type conjugation reactions of alpha,beta-unsaturated aldehydic lipid peroxidation products with nucleophilic peptide side chains. This new application of an old probe, which has been used for the detection of abasic sites in DNA strands, introduces a biotin moiety into the oxylipid peptide conjugate. The biotin-modified oxylipid peptide conjugate is then amenable to enrichment using avidin affinity capture. The described method represents an attractive alternative to hydrazine-based derivatization methods for oxidized peptides and proteins because the reduction step necessary for the transformation of the hydrazone bond to the chemically more stable hydrazine bond can be omitted. Tandem mass spectrometry of the labeled oxylipid peptide conjugates indicates that the biotin moiety is at least partially retained on the fragment ion during the collisionally induced dissociation experiments, a prerequisite for the use of automated database searching of uninterpreted tandem mass spectra. The reported approach is outlined for the detection, identification, and characterization of oxylipid peptide conjugates, but the labeling chemistry may also be applicable to other carbonyl-modified proteins.