Cleavage and identification of proteins: a modified aspartyl-prolyl cleavage

We have developed a method for rapidly cleaving and identifying proteins electroblotted onto poly(vinylidene difluoride) membranes. Cleavage is performed with 10% acetic acid in 7 M guanidine chloride at pH 2.5 for 1 h at 90 degrees C, resulting in fragmentation primarily at aspartyl-prolyl bonds. Peptides resulting from non-Asp-Pro cleavage are N-terminally blocked by reaction with orthophthalaldehyde (OPA) prior to automated Edman degradation. Reaction with OPA after cleavage blocks all amino acids containing primary amino groups. Only peptides containing an N-terminal amino acid with a secondary amino group (proline) will be available for reaction with the Edman reagent. The sequences obtained are used for protein database searching. Using this approach, proteins that are found to be N-terminally blocked can be removed from the sequencer, cleaved with acetic acid, blocked with OPA, and reapplied to the sequencer. The protein can then be identified from a database search using the sequence mixture obtained.