Authors
Hammerschmid, D., Ehsani, M., Keeble, A. H., Russell Lewis, B., Calvaresi, V., Heatley, P., Zhu, D., Hayward, H., Struwe, W. B., Booth, P. J., Howarth, M. R., Reading, E.
Abstract
Proteins are dynamic molecules which sensitively adapt according to their environment. Hydrogen-Deuterium eXchange Mass Spectrometry (HDX-MS) provides unique insights into protein conformational processes. However, existing methodology cannot selectively enrich proteins post-labeling because D-to-H back exchange must be minimized by rapid processing at pH 2.3-3.0 and 0 {degrees}C, where affinity purification fails. Here, we create LemonCatcher, a protein superglue that spontaneously forms an amide bond to the LemonTag peptide under these harsh acidic and cold quench conditions, even at -20 {degrees}C. Engineering of a bead-coupled LemonCatcher purification system introduces fast and selective quench-capture HDX-MS (SelQueX) on LemonTagged fusion proteins. We demonstrate targeted measurement of protein dynamics in living bacterial cells, revealing ligand-induced conformational changes in maltose-binding protein. Moreover, probing a stalled membrane protein nascent-chain supports a role for the ribosome in maintaining partially unfolded folding intermediates. Thus, SelQueX makes possible selective characterization of protein structural dynamics within the complex cellular milieu.
Preprint server:
bioRxiv
The authors list and abstract were imported from bioRxiv on 28 Aug 2026.
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