Identification of new protein coding sequences and signal peptidase cleavage sites of Helicobacter pylori strain 26695 by proteogenomics

Abstract Correct annotation of protein coding genes is the basis of conventional data analysis in proteomic studies. Nevertheless, most protein sequence databases almost exclusively rely on gene finding software and inevitably also miss protein annotations or possess errors. Proteogenomics tries to overcome these issues by matching MS data directly against a genome sequence database. Here we report an in-depth proteogenomics study of Helicobacter pylori strain 26695. MS data was searched against a combined database of the NCBI annotations and a six-frame translation of the genome. Database searches with Mascot and X! Tandem revealed 1115 proteins identified by at least two peptides with a peptide false discovery rate below 1%. This represents 71% of the predicted proteome. So far this is the most extensive proteome study of Helicobacter pylori . Our proteogenomic approach unambiguously identified four previously missed annotations and furthermore allowed us to correct sequences of six annotated proteins. Since secreted proteins are often involved in pathogenic processes we further investigated signal peptidase cleavage sites. By applying a database search that accommodates the identification of semi-specific cleaved peptides, 63 previously unknown signal peptides were detected. The motif LXA showed to be the predominant recognition sequence for signal peptidases. Biological significance The results of MS-based proteomic studies highly rely on correct annotation of protein coding genes which is the basis of conventional data analysis. However, the annotation of protein coding sequences in genomic data is usually based on gene finding software. These tools are limited in their prediction accuracy such as the problematic determination of exact gene boundaries. Thus, protein databases own partly erroneous or incomplete sequences. Additionally, some protein sequences might also be missing in the databases. Proteogenomics, a combination of proteomic and genomic data analyses, is well suited to detect previously not annotated proteins and to correct erroneous sequences. For this purpose, the existing database of the investigated species is typically supplemented with a six-frame translation of the genome. Here, we studied the proteome of the major human pathogen Helicobacter pylori that is responsible for many gastric diseases such as duodenal ulcers and gastric cancer. Our in-depth proteomic study highly reliably identified 1115 proteins (FDR  The proteogenomic data analysis of our data set resulted in the unambiguous identification of four previously missed annotations, the correction of six annotated proteins as well as the detection of 63 previously unknown signal peptides. We have annotated proteins of particular biological interest like the ferrous iron transport protein A, the coiled-coil-rich protein HP0058 and the lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis protein HP0619. For instance, the protein HP0619 could be a drug target for the inhibition of the LPS synthesis pathway. Furthermore it has been proven that the motif “LXA” is the predominant recognition sequence for the signal peptidase I of H. pylori . Signal peptidases are essential enzymes for the viability of bacterial cells and are involved in pathogenesis. Therefore signal peptidases could be novel targets for antibiotics. The inclusion of the corrected and new annotated proteins as well as the information of signal peptide cleavage sites will help in the study of biological pathways involved in pathogenesis or drug response of H. pylori .