Preparation of heteroelement-incorporated and stable isotope-labeled protein standards for quantitative proteomics

A major obstacle for further development of quantitative proteomics is the lack of accurately quantified protein standards. The following protocol describes innovative methods for the production of stable isotope-labeled protein standards. Their production is achieved by cell-free protein synthesis, which enables simultaneous incorporation of selenomethionine and stable isotope-labeled amino acids. The selenium tag allows sensitive and accurate quantification by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The stable isotope label allows internal standardization in mass spectrometry-based proteomics by electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS). Both label types can be placed within a single protein RISQ standard (recombinant isotope-labeled and selenium quantified) or can be distributed over two types of related RSQ and RIQ standards for the same target protein (recombinant selenium quantified and recombinant isotope-labeled and quantified). The combination of cell-free synthesis as production method with ICP-MS and ESI-MS/MS as detection methods results in protein standards, which are quantified at an outstanding level of accuracy.