Recent advances in
single-cell proteomics highlight the promise
of sensitive analyses in limited cell populations. However, technical
challenges remain for sample recovery, throughput, and versatility.
Here, we first report a water droplet-in-oil digestion (WinO) method
based on carboxyl-coated beads and phase transfer surfactants for
proteomic analysis using limited sample amounts. This method was developed
to minimize the contact area between the sample solution and the container
to reduce the loss of proteins and peptides by adsorption. This method
increased protein and peptide recovery 10-fold. The proteome profiles
obtained from 100 cells using the WinO method highly correlated with
those from 10,000 cells using the in-solution digestion method. We
successfully applied the WinO method to single-cell proteomics and
quantified 462 proteins. Using the WinO method, samples can be easily
prepared in a multi-well plate, making it a widely applicable and
suitable method for single-cell proteomics.