0. MALDI-TOF/TOF analysis 100–200 pmol of purified lipoprotein were prepared and analyzed according to Ujihara et al. [35]. Briefly, lipoproteins in elution fractions from FPLC or HA chromatography were precipitated and

SDS-PAGE gel was performed. Proteins separated by electrophoresis were visualized with copper staining. Idasanutlin Protein bands with the apparent molecular weight of apolipoprotein/mature lipoprotein were cut from the stained gel. Lipoproteins were in-gel digested with Trypsin or AspN and extracted peptides were dried and dissolved in 5 μl 0.1% trifluoroacetic acid, 50% acetonitrile. Samples were loaded onto the target and covered with 1 μl matrix solution (5 mg ml-1 α-cyano-4-hydroxy-cinnamic acid (Bruker Daltonics) in 0.1% trifluoroacetic acid, 50% acetonitrile). The MALDI-TOF/TOF mass spectra were recorded on an Ultraflex selleck products II MALDI-TOF/TOF instrument with smartbeam laser upgrade (Bruker Daltonics). The laser was set to a repetition

rate of 100 Hz and the ion acceleration voltage was 29.5 kV. The mass measurements were performed in the positive ion reflector mode. Results Lipoproteins are expressed in M. bovis BCG As model substrates for lipoprotein modification in slow-growing mycobacteria we chose four different lipoproteins being identical in M. tuberculosis and in M. bovis BCG Pasteur. The well characterized LppX [12, 36] and LprF [13] in A-1210477 nmr addition to LpqH and LpqL. LppX (Rv2945c) has been shown to be involved in translocation ASK1 of phthiocerol dimycocerosates (DIM) to the outer membrane [36]. LprF (Rv1368) is involved in signaling and has been suggested to interact with the histidine kinase KdpD in response to environmental osmotic stress [37]. LpqH (19 kDa antigen, Rv3763) functions as an adhesin and has been recognized as an immunodominant lipoprotein [38]. LpqL (Rv0418) is predicted to be a lipoprotein aminopeptidase. Hence, our choice of lipoproteins is representing

different classes of lipoproteins. The four expression vectors pMV261-Gm for hexa-histidine/hemagglutinine tagged LprF, LpqH, LpqL or LppX were transformed into M. bovis BCG. Whole cell extracts from the four strains expressing the recombinant lipoproteins were analyzed by Western blot. The apparent molecular masses of the detected proteins correspond to the predicted mass of the recombinant apolipoproteins/mature lipoproteins (LprF 29.4 kDa, LpqH 17.3 kDa, LpqL 54.2 kDa, LppX 26.3 kDa). Eventually the prepro-/pro-lipoprotein forms whose sizes are increased by 2–3 kDa due to the presence of the signal peptide, are also detected. Identification of the lipoprotein lipid anchor in M. bovis BCG To characterize the modifications of lipoproteins at the molecular level, the four recombinant lipoproteins LprF, LpqH, LpqL and LppX were expressed in M. bovis BCG parental strain. Proteins were purified by FPLC or HA affinity chromatography. Eluted fractions were analyzed by Western blot (see Additional file 1) and lipoprotein containing fractions were precipitated for SDS-PAGE gel.