A Tag-Based Affinity Purification Mass Spectrometry Workflow for Systematic Isolation of the Human Mitochondrial Protein Complexes.

Mitochondria (mt) are double-membraned, dynamic organelles that play an essential role in a large number of cellular processes, and impairments in mt function have emerged as a causative factor for a growing number of human disorders. Given that most biological functions are driven by physical associations between proteins, the first step towards understanding mt dysfunction is to map its protein protein interaction (PPI) network in a comprehensive and systematic fashion. While mass-spectrometry (MS) based approaches possess the high sensitivity ideal for such an endeavor, it also requires stringent biochemical purification of bait proteins to avoid detecting spurious, non-specific PPIs. Here, we outline a tagging-based affinity purification coupled with mass spectrometry (AP-MS) workflow for discovering new mt protein associations and providing novel insights into their role in mt biology and human physiology/pathology. Because AP-MS relies on the creation of proteins fused with affinity tags, we employ a versatile-affinity (VA) tag, consisting of 3x FLAG, 6 x His, and Strep III epitopes. For efficient delivery of affinity-tagged open reading frames (ORF) into mammalian cells, the VA-tag is cloned onto a specific ORE using Gateway recombinant cloning, and the resulting expression vector is stably introduced in target cells using lentiviral transduction. In this chapter, we show a functional workflow for mapping the mt interactome that includes tagging, stable transduction, selection and expansion of mammalian cell lines, mt extraction, identification of interacting protein partners by AP-MS, and lastly, computational. assessment of protein complexes/PPI networks.