Characterizing Far-Flung Extremophiles With Next-Generation Protein Sequencing™

Summary

Extreme environments that harbor adapted bacteria are widespread — ranging from refrigerators to hot springs. Accordingly, there is massive industrial interest in identifying cold-active, solvent-tolerant, and heat-loving proteins. Thermophiles found in hot springs and the deep sea are sources of diverse biotechnological activity. However, access to compact instrumentation for interrogating proteins in these underexplored sites is a major barrier to scientific discovery.

This hurdle prompted the creation of the Two Frontiers Project, led by Chris Mason and colleagues, which designs next-generation scientific expeditions that employ sequencing technologies amenable to resource-limited environments. In this webinar, Mason will demonstrate how the Platinum benchtop proteomics platform reveals the primary structure of single protein molecules. This dynamic protein sequencing approach employs labeled N-terminal amino acid protein recognizers and aminopeptidases to probe peptides with amino-acid-level resolution. The order of recognizer binding and kinetic properties of recognition segments are analyzed to determine peptide sequence and associated proteins. With its compact footprint and data-rich sequencing output, Platinum enables future applications such as bioprospecting and interrogating proteins from understudied extremophiles.

Speakers: Chris Mason, PhD, Weill Cornell Medical College and Kenneth Skinner, PhD, QSI

Date: February 28, 2024