Membrane proteins are difficult to work with due to their insolubility in aqueous solution and quite often their poor stability in detergent micelles. Here, we present the peptidisc for their facile capture into water-soluble particles. Unlike the nanodisc, which requires scaffold proteins of different lengths and precise amounts of matching lipids, reconstitution of detergent solubilized proteins in peptidisc only requires a short amphipathic bi-helical peptide (NSPr) and no extra lipids. Multiple copies of the peptide wrap around to shield the membrane-exposed part of the target protein. We demonstrate the effectiveness of this ‘one size fits all’ method using five different membrane protein assemblies (MalFGK2, FhuA, SecYEG, OmpF, BRC) during ‘on-column’, ‘in-gel’, and ‘on-bead’ reconstitution embedded within the membrane protein purification protocol. The peptidisc method is rapid and cost-effective, and it may emerge as a universal tool for high-throughput stabilization of membrane proteins to advance modern biological studies.

Protein-correlation-profiling (PCP), in combination with quantitative proteomics, has emerged as a high-throughput method for the rapid identification of dynamic protein complexes in native conditions. While PCP has been successfully applied to soluble proteomes, characterization of the membrane interactome has lagged, partly due to the necessary use of detergents to maintain protein solubility. Here, we apply the peptidisc, a ‘one-size fits all’ membrane mimetic, for the capture of the Escherichia coli cell envelope proteome and its high-resolution fractionation in the absence of detergent. Analysis of the SILAC-labeled peptidisc library via PCP allows generation of over 4900 possible binary interactions out of >700,000 random associations. Using well-characterized membrane protein systems such as the SecY translocon, the Bam complex and the MetNI transporter, we demonstrate that our dataset is a useful resource for identifying transient and surprisingly novel protein interactions. For example, we discover a trans-periplasmic supercomplex comprising subunits of the Bam and Sec machineries, including membrane-bound chaperones YfgM and PpiD. We identify RcsF and OmpA as bone fide interactors of BamA, and we show that MetQ association with the ABC transporter MetNI depends on its N-terminal lipid anchor. We also discover NlpA as a novel interactor of MetNI complex. Most of these interactions are largely undetected by standard detergent-based purification. Together, the peptidisc workflow applied to the proteomic field is emerging as a promising novel approach to characterize membrane protein interactions under native expression conditions and without genetic manipulation.

Characterization of the integral membrane proteome by mass spectrometry (MS) remains challenging due its high complexity and inherent insolubility. In a typical experiment, the cellular membranes are isolated, the proteins are solubilized and fractionated, and the detergent micelles are removed before MS analysis. Detergents are not compatible with mass spectrometry, however, and their removal from biological samples often results in reduced protein identification. As an alternative to detergents, we recently developed the peptidisc membrane mimetic, which allows entrapment of the cell envelope proteome into water-soluble particles, termed a "peptidisc library". Here, we employ a His-tagged version of the peptidisc peptide scaffold to enrich the reconstituted membrane proteome by affinity chromatography. This purification step reduces the sample complexity by depleting ribosomal and soluble proteins that often cosediment with cellular membranes. As a result, the peptidisc library is enriched in lowabundance membrane proteins. We apply this method to survey changes in the membrane proteome upon depletion of the SecDFyajC complex, the ancillary subunit of the Sec translocon. In the depleted strain, we detect increased membrane localization of the motor ATPase SecA, along with increased levels of an unannotated inner membrane protein, YibN. Together, these results demonstrate the utility of the peptidisc for global purification of membrane proteins and for monitoring change in the membrane proteome.

The peptidisc membrane mimetic enables global reconstitution of the bacterial membrane proteome into water-soluble detergent-free particles, termed peptidisc libraries. We present here a method that combines peptidisc libraries and chromosomal-level gene tagging technology with affinity purification and mass spectrometry (AP/MS) to stabilize and identify fragile membrane protein complexes that exist at native expression levels. This method circumvents common artifacts caused by bait protein overproduction and protein complex dissociation due to lengthy exposure to detergents during protein isolation. Using the Escherichia coli Sec system as a case study, we identify an expanded version of the translocon, termed the HMD complex, consisting of nine different integral membrane subunits. This complex is stable in peptidiscs but dissociates in detergents. Guided by this native-level proteomic information, we design and validate a procedure that enables purification of the HMD complex with minimal protein dissociation. These results highlight the utility of peptidiscs and AP/MS to discover and stabilize fragile membrane protein assemblies. Data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD032315.

Protein-correlation-profiling (PCP), in combination with quantitative proteomics, has emerged as a high-throughput method for the rapid identification of dynamic protein complexes in native conditions. While PCP has been successfully applied to soluble proteomes, characterization of the membrane interactome has lagged, partly due to the necessary use of detergents to maintain protein solubility. Here, we apply the peptidisc, a 'one-size fits all' membrane mimetic, for the capture of the Escherichia coli cell envelope proteome and its high-resolution fractionation in the absence of detergent. Analysis of the SILAC-labeled peptidisc library via PCP allows generation of over 4900 possible binary interactions out of >700,000 random associations. Using well-characterized membrane protein systems such as the SecY translocon, the Bam complex and the MetNI transporter, we find our dataset very useful for identifying transient and surprisingly novel protein interactions. For example, we discover a trans-periplasmic supercomplex comprising subunits of the Bam and Sec translocons, including membrane-bound chaperones YfgM and PpiD. We identify RcsF and OmpA as bone fide interactors of BamA, and we show that interaction of MetQ with the ABC transporter MetNI depends on its N-terminal lipid anchor. We also discover NlpA as a novel interactor of MetNIQ. Most of these interactions are largely undetected by standard detergent-based purification. Together, the peptidisc workflow applied to the proteomic field is emerging as a promising novel approach to characterize membrane protein interactions under native expression conditions and without genetic manipulation.