Phagocytes, including neutrophils and macrophages, have been suggested to function in a cooperative way in the initial phase of inflammatory responses, but their interaction and integration in the resolution of inflammation and tissue repair remain unclear. Here we show that neutrophils have crucial functions in liver repair by promoting the phenotypic conversion of pro-inflammatory Ly6ChiCX3CR1lo monocytes/macrophages to pro-resolving Ly6CloCX3CR1hi macrophages. Intriguingly, reactive oxygen species (ROS), expressed predominantly by neutrophils, are important mediators that trigger this phenotypic conversion to promote liver repair. Moreover, this conversion is prevented by the depletion of neutrophils via anti-Ly6G antibody, genetic deficiency of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, or genetic deficiency of NADPH oxidase 2 (Nox2). By contrast, adoptive transfer of WT rather than Nox2−/− neutrophils rescues the impaired phenotypic conversion of macrophages in neutrophil-depleted mice. Our findings thus identify an intricate cooperation between neutrophils and macrophages that orchestrate resolution of inflammation and tissue repair.
Cysteine occupies a unique place in protein chemistry. The nucleophilic thiol group allows cysteine to undergo a broad range of redox modifications beyond classical thiol-disulfide redox equilibria, including S-sulfenylation (-SOH), S-sulfinylation (-SO2H), S-sulfonylation (-SO3H), S-nitrosylation (-SNO), S-sulfhydration (-SSH), S-glutathionylation (-SSG), and others. Emerging evidence suggests that these post-translational modifications (PTM) are important in cellular redox regulation and protection against oxidative damage. Identification of protein targets of thiol redox modifications is crucial to understanding their roles in biology and disease. However, analysis of these highly labile and dynamic modifications poses challenges. Recent advances in the design of probes for thiol redox forms, together with innovative mass spectrometry based chemoproteomics methods make it possible to perform global, site-specific, and quantitative analyses of thiol redox modifications in complex proteomes. Here, we review chemical proteomic strategies used to expand the landscape of thiol redox modifications.
4 August 2021 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Significance: Blueprints of in-cell protein interaction landscapes are essential for our understanding of cellular structures and functions, which have been challenging to study at the systems level. Cross-linking–mass spectrometry (XL-MS) represents a high-throughput method for global profiling of interaction networks and can determine the identity and connectivity of native PPIs simultaneously without cell engineering. While in vivo XL-MS experiments are feasible, in-depth analyses remain difficult due to technical limitations on sample preparation. Here, we have developed a new Alkyne-A-DSBSO–based in vivo XL-MS platform that enabled us to obtain the most comprehensive PPI maps in cells. This approach can be adopted for proteome-wide XL-MS studies in any organisms and sample origins, thus advancing interactome biology beyond proteome identity and abundance.
2 October 2019 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) is an important messenger molecule for diverse cellular processes. H 2 O 2 oxidizes proteinaceous cysteinyl thiols to sulfenic acid, also known as S-sulfenylation, thereby affecting the protein conformation and functionality. Although many proteins have been identified as S-sulfenylation targets in plants, site-specific mapping and quantification remain largely unexplored. By means of a peptide-centric chemoproteomics approach, we mapped 1,537 S-sulfenylated sites on more than 1,000 proteins in Arabidopsis thaliana cells. Proteins involved in RNA homeostasis and metabolism were identified as hotspots for S-sulfenylation. Moreover, S-sulfenylation frequently occurred on cysteines located at catalytic sites of enzymes or on cysteines involved in metal binding, hinting at a direct mode of action for redox regulation. Comparison of human and Arabidopsis S-sulfenylation datasets provided 155 conserved S-sulfenylated cysteines, including Cys181 of the Arabidopsis MITOGEN-ACTIVATED PROTEIN KINASE4 (AtMAPK4) that corresponds to Cys161 in the human MAPK1, which has been identified previously as being S-sulfenylated. We show that, by replacing Cys181 of recombinant AtMAPK4 by a redox-insensitive serine residue, the kinase activity decreased, indicating the importance of this noncatalytic cysteine for the kinase mechanism. Altogether, we quantitatively mapped the S-sulfenylated cysteines in Arabidopsis cells under H 2 O 2 stress and thereby generated a comprehensive view on the S-sulfenylation landscape that will facilitate downstream plant redox studies.