U.S. patent application number 16/534174 was filed with the patent office on 2020-09-10 for decoding approaches for protein identification.
The applicant listed for this patent is Nautilus Biotechnology, Inc.. Invention is credited to Jarrett D. EGERTSON, Parag MALLICK, Sujal M. PATEL.
Application Number | 20200286584 16/534174 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 1000005047095 |
Filed Date | 2020-09-10 |
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United States Patent
Application |
20200286584 |
Kind Code |
A9 |
PATEL; Sujal M. ; et
al. |
September 10, 2020 |
Decoding Approaches for Protein Identification
Abstract
Methods and systems are provided for accurate and efficient
identification and quantification of proteins. In an aspect,
disclosed herein is a method for identifying a protein in a sample
of unknown proteins, comprising receiving information of a
plurality of empirical measurements performed on the unknown
proteins; comparing the information of empirical measurements
against a database comprising a plurality of protein sequences,
each protein sequence corresponding to a candidate protein among a
plurality of candidate proteins; and for each of one or more of the
plurality of candidate proteins, generating a probability that the
candidate protein generates the information of empirical
measurements, a probability that the plurality of empirical
measurements is not observed given that the candidate protein is
present in the sample, or a probability that the candidate protein
is present in the sample; based on the comparison of the
information of empirical measurements against the database.
Inventors: |
PATEL; Sujal M.; (Seattle,
WA) ; MALLICK; Parag; (San Mateo, CA) ;
EGERTSON; Jarrett D.; (Rancho Palos Verdes, CA) |
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Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Nautilus Biotechnology, Inc. |
San Carlos |
CA |
US |
|
|
Prior
Publication: |
|
Document Identifier |
Publication Date |
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US 20200090785 A1 |
March 19, 2020 |
|
|
Family ID: |
1000005047095 |
Appl. No.: |
16/534174 |
Filed: |
August 7, 2019 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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PCT/US18/67985 |
Dec 28, 2018 |
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16534174 |
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PCT/US18/56807 |
Oct 20, 2018 |
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PCT/US18/67985 |
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62611979 |
Dec 29, 2017 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G16B 20/20 20190201 |
International
Class: |
G16B 20/20 20060101
G16B020/20 |
Claims
1. A computer-implemented method for identifying a protein in a
sample of unknown proteins, the method comprising: receiving a
plurality of empirical measurements performed on said unknown
proteins in said sample; comparing at least a portion of said
plurality of empirical measurements against a database comprising a
plurality of protein sequences, each protein sequence corresponding
to a candidate protein among a plurality of candidate proteins; for
each of one or more candidate proteins in said plurality of
candidate proteins, generating one or more of: (i) a probability
that said candidate protein generates said plurality of empirical
measurements, (ii) a probability that said plurality of empirical
measurements is not observed given that said candidate protein is
present in said sample, and (iii) a probability that said candidate
protein is present in said sample; based on said comparison of said
at least a portion of said plurality of said empirical measurements
against said database comprising said plurality of protein
sequences.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein said plurality of empirical
measurements comprises two or more types of empirical measurements
selected from the group consisting of: (i) binding measurements of
each of one or more affinity reagent probes to said unknown
proteins in said sample, each affinity reagent probe configured to
selectively bind to one or more candidate proteins among said
plurality of candidate proteins; (ii) length of one or more of said
unknown proteins in said sample; (iii) hydrophobicity of one or
more of said unknown proteins in said sample; and (iv) isoelectric
point of one or more of said unknown proteins in said sample.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein generating said plurality of
probabilities further comprises comparing binding measurements of
each of a plurality of additional affinity reagent probes against
said database comprising said plurality of protein sequences, each
of said plurality of additional affinity reagent probes configured
to selectively bind to one or more candidate proteins among said
plurality of candidate proteins.
4. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating, for said
each of one or more candidate proteins, a confidence level that
said candidate protein matches one of said unknown proteins in said
sample.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein said plurality of affinity
reagent probes comprises no more than about 500 affinity reagent
probes.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein said sample comprises a
biological sample obtained from a subject.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein (c) comprises, for each of one or
more candidate proteins in said plurality of candidate proteins,
generating (i) said probability that said candidate protein
generates said plurality of empirical measurements.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein said plurality of empirical
measurements comprises binding of affinity reagent probes or
non-specific binding of affinity reagent probes.
9. The method of claim 7, wherein said plurality of empirical
measurements comprises at least one of length, hydrophobicity, and
isoelectric point of one or more of said unknown proteins in said
sample.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein (c) comprises, for each of one
or more candidate proteins in said plurality of candidate proteins,
generating (ii) said probability that said plurality of empirical
measurements is not observed given that said candidate protein is
present in said sample.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein said plurality of empirical
measurements comprises binding of affinity reagent probes or
non-specific binding of affinity reagent probes.
12. The method of claim 10, wherein said plurality of empirical
measurements comprises at least one of length, hydrophobicity, and
isoelectric point of one or more of said unknown proteins in said
sample.
13. The method of claim 1, wherein (c) comprises, for each of one
or more candidate proteins in said plurality of candidate proteins,
generating (iii) said probability that said candidate protein is
present in said sample.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein said plurality of empirical
measurements comprises binding of affinity reagent probes or
non-specific binding of affinity reagent probes.
15. The method of claim 13, wherein said plurality of empirical
measurements comprises at least one of length, hydrophobicity, and
isoelectric point of one or more of said unknown proteins in said
sample.
16. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a
sensitivity of said identification of said protein with a
pre-determined threshold.
17. The method of claim 16, wherein said pre-determined threshold
is less than a 1% likelihood of being incorrect.
18. The method of claim 1, wherein said protein in said sample is
truncated or degraded, or does not originate from a protein
terminus.
19. The method of claim 1, wherein said plurality of empirical
measurements comprises measurements performed on mixtures of
antibodies.
20. The method of claim 1, wherein said plurality of empirical
measurements comprises measurements performed on samples in the
presence of single amino acid variants (SAVs) caused by
non-synonymous single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs).
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE
[0001] This application is a continuation of International
Application No. PCT/US2018/067985, filed Dec. 28, 2018, which
claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.
62/611,979, filed Dec. 29, 2017, and International Application No.
PCT/US2018/056807, filed Oct. 20, 2018, each of which is entirely
incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Current techniques for protein identification typically rely
upon either the binding and subsequent readout of highly specific
and sensitive affinity reagents (such as antibodies) or upon
peptide-read data (typically on the order of 12-30 amino acids
long) from a mass spectrometer. Such techniques may be applied to
unknown proteins in a sample to determine the presence, absence, or
quantity of candidate proteins based on analysis of binding
measurements of the highly specific and sensitive affinity reagents
to the protein of interest.
SUMMARY
[0003] Recognized herein is a need for improved identification and
quantification of proteins within a sample of unknown proteins.
Methods and systems provided herein can significantly reduce or
eliminate errors in identifying proteins in a sample and thereby
improve the quantification of said proteins. Such methods and
systems may achieve accurate and efficient identification of
candidate proteins within a sample of unknown proteins. Such
identification may be based on calculations using information such
as binding measurements of affinity reagent probes configured to
selectively bind to one or more candidate proteins, protein length,
protein hydrophobicity, and isoelectric point. In some embodiments,
a sample of unknown proteins may be exposed to individual affinity
reagent probes, pooled affinity reagent probes, or a combination of
individual affinity reagent probes and pooled affinity reagent
probes. The identification may comprise estimation of a confidence
level that each of one or more candidate proteins is present in the
sample.
[0004] Methods and systems provided herein may comprise algorithms
for identifying proteins based on a sequence of experiments
performed on fully-intact proteins or protein fragments. Each
experiment may be an empirical measurement performed on a protein
and may provide information which may be useful for identifying the
protein. Examples of experiments include measurement of the binding
of an affinity reagent (e.g., antibody or aptamer), protein length,
protein hydrophobicity, and isoelectric point. Information about
experimental outcomes may be used to calculate probabilities or
likelihoods of protein candidates and/or to infer protein identity
by selecting the protein from a list of protein candidates that
maximizes the likelihood of the observed experimental outcomes.
Methods and systems provided herein may also comprise a collection
of protein candidates, and algorithms to calculate the probability
of experimental outcomes from each of these protein candidates.
[0005] In an aspect, the present disclosure provides a
computer-implemented method for identifying a protein in a sample
of unknown proteins, the method comprising: (a) receiving, by said
computer, information of a plurality of empirical measurements
performed on said unknown proteins in said sample; (b) comparing,
by said computer, at least a portion of said information of said
plurality of said empirical measurements against a database
comprising a plurality of protein sequences, each protein sequence
corresponding to a candidate protein among a plurality of candidate
proteins; and (c) for each of one or more candidate proteins in
said plurality of candidate proteins, generating, by said computer,
one or more of: (i) a probability that said candidate protein
generates said information of said plurality of empirical
measurements, (ii) a probability that said plurality of empirical
measurements is not observed given that said candidate protein is
present in said sample, and (iii) a probability that said candidate
protein is present in said sample; based on said comparison of said
at least a portion of said information of said plurality of said
empirical measurements against said database comprising said
plurality of protein sequences.
[0006] In some embodiments, two or more of said plurality of
empirical measurements are selected from the group consisting of:
(i) binding measurements of each of one or more affinity reagent
probes to said unknown proteins in said sample, each affinity
reagent probe configured to selectively bind to one or more
candidate proteins among said plurality of candidate proteins; (ii)
length of one or more of said unknown proteins in said sample;
(iii) hydrophobicity of one or more of said unknown proteins in
said sample; and (iv) isoelectric point of one or more of said
unknown proteins in said sample.
[0007] In some embodiments, generating said plurality of
probabilities further comprises receiving additional information of
binding measurements of each of a plurality of additional affinity
reagent probes, each additional affinity reagent probe configured
to selectively bind to one or more candidate proteins among said
plurality of candidate proteins. In some embodiments, the method
further comprises generating, for said each of one or more
candidate proteins, a confidence level that said candidate protein
matches one of said unknown proteins in said sample.
[0008] In some embodiments, said plurality of affinity reagent
probes comprises no more than 50 affinity reagent probes. In some
embodiments, said plurality of affinity reagent probes comprises no
more than 100 affinity reagent probes. In some embodiments, said
plurality of affinity reagent probes comprises no more than 200
affinity reagent probes. In some embodiments, said plurality of
affinity reagent probes comprises no more than 300 affinity reagent
probes. In some embodiments, said plurality of affinity reagent
probes comprises no more than 500 affinity reagent probes. In some
embodiments, said plurality of affinity reagent probes comprises
more than 500 affinity reagent probes. In some embodiments, the
method further comprises generating a paper or electronic report
identifying said proteins in said sample.
[0009] In some embodiments, said sample comprises a biological
sample. In some embodiments, said biological sample is obtained
from a subject. In some embodiments, the method further comprises
identifying a disease state in said subject based at least on said
plurality of probabilities.
[0010] In some embodiments, (c) comprises, for each of one or more
candidate proteins in said plurality of candidate proteins,
generating, by said computer, (i) said probability that said
candidate protein generates said information of said plurality of
empirical measurements. In some embodiments, (c) comprises, for
each of one or more candidate proteins in said plurality of
candidate proteins, generating, by said computer, (ii) said
probability that said plurality of empirical measurements is not
observed given that said candidate protein is present in said
sample. In some embodiments, (c) comprises, for each of one or more
candidate proteins in said plurality of candidate proteins,
generating, by said computer, (iii) said probability that said
candidate protein is present in said sample. In some embodiments,
said measurement outcome comprises binding of affinity reagent
probes. In some embodiments, said measurement outcome comprises
non-specific binding of affinity reagent probes. In some
embodiments, said measurement outcome comprises binding of affinity
reagent probes. In some embodiments, said measurement outcome
comprises non-specific binding of affinity reagent probes. In some
embodiments, said empirical measurements comprise binding of
affinity reagent probes. In some embodiments, said empirical
measurements comprise non-specific binding of affinity reagent
probes.
[0011] In some embodiments, the method further comprises generating
a sensitivity of protein identification with a pre-determined
threshold. In some embodiments, said pre-determined threshold is
less than 1% of being incorrect. In some embodiments, said protein
in said sample is truncated or degraded. In some embodiments, said
protein in said sample does not originate from a protein
terminus.
[0012] In some embodiments, said empirical measurements comprise
length of one or more of said unknown proteins in said sample. In
some embodiments, said empirical measurements comprise
hydrophobicity of one or more of said unknown proteins in said
sample. In some embodiments, said empirical measurements comprise
isoelectric point of one or more of said unknown proteins in said
sample. In some embodiments, said empirical measurements comprise
measurements performed on mixtures of antibodies. In some
embodiments, said empirical measurements comprise measurements
performed on samples obtained from a plurality of species. In some
embodiments, said empirical measurements comprise measurements
performed on samples in the presence of single amino acid variants
(SAVs) caused by non-synonymous single-nucleotide polymorphisms
(SNPs).
[0013] Additional aspects and advantages of the present disclosure
will become readily apparent to those skilled in this art from the
following detailed description, wherein only illustrative
embodiments of the present disclosure are shown and described. As
will be realized, the present disclosure is capable of other and
different embodiments, and its several details are capable of
modifications in various obvious respects, all without departing
from the disclosure. Accordingly, the drawings and description are
to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not as
restrictive.
INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE
[0014] All publications, patents, and patent applications mentioned
in this specification are herein incorporated by reference to the
same extent as if each individual publication, patent, or patent
application was specifically and individually indicated to be
incorporated by reference. To the extent publications and patents
or patent applications incorporated by reference contradict the
disclosure contained in the specification, the specification is
intended to supersede and/or take precedence over any such
contradictory material.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0015] The novel features of the invention are set forth with
particularity in the appended claims. A better understanding of the
features and advantages of the present invention will be obtained
by reference to the following detailed description that sets forth
illustrative embodiments, in which the principles of the invention
are utilized, and the accompanying drawings (also "Figure" and
"FIG." herein), of which:
[0016] FIG. 1 illustrates an example flowchart of protein
identification of unknown proteins in a biological sample, in
accordance with disclosed embodiments.
[0017] FIG. 2 illustrates the sensitivity of affinity reagent
probes (e.g., the percent of substrates identified with a false
detection rate (FDR) of less than 1%) plotted against the number of
probe recognition sites (e.g., trimer-binding epitopes) in the
affinity reagent probe (ranging up to 100 probe recognition sites
or trimer-binding epitopes), for three different experimental cases
(with 50, 100, and 200 probes used, as denoted by the gray, black,
and white circles, respectively), in accordance with disclosed
embodiments.
[0018] FIG. 3 illustrates the sensitivity of affinity reagent
probes (e.g., the percent of substrates identified with a false
detection rate (FDR) of less than 1%) plotted against the number of
probe recognition sites (e.g., trimer-binding epitopes) in the
affinity reagent probe (ranging up to 700 probe recognition sites
or trimer-binding epitopes) for three different experimental cases
(with 50, 100, and 200 probes used, as denoted by the gray, black,
and white circles, respectively), in accordance with disclosed
embodiments.
[0019] FIG. 4 illustrates plots showing the sensitivity of protein
identification with experiments using 100 (left), 200 (center), or
300 probes (right), in accordance with disclosed embodiments.
[0020] FIG. 5 illustrates plots showing the sensitivity of protein
identification with experiments using various protein fragmentation
approaches. In each of the top row and the bottom row, protein
identification performance is shown with 50, 100, 200, and 300
affinity reagent measurements (in the 4 panels from left to right),
with maximum fragment length values of 50, 100, 200, 300, 400, and
500 (as denoted by the hexagons, down-pointing triangles,
up-pointing triangles, diamonds, rectangles, and circles,
respectively), in accordance with disclosed embodiments.
[0021] FIG. 6 illustrates plots showing the sensitivity of
identification of human proteins (percent of substrates identified
at an FDR of less than 1%) with experiments using various
combinations of types of measurements), in accordance with
disclosed embodiments.
[0022] FIG. 7 illustrates plots showing the sensitivity of protein
identification with experiments using 50, 100, 200, or 300 affinity
reagent probe passes against unknown proteins from either E. coli,
yeast, or human (as denoted by the circles, triangles, and squares,
respectively), in accordance with disclosed embodiments.
[0023] FIG. 8 illustrates a plot showing the binding probability
(y-axis, left) and sensitivity of protein identification (y-axis,
right) against iteration (x-axis), in accordance with disclosed
embodiments.
[0024] FIG. 9 shows a comparison of the estimated false
identification rate to the true false identification rate for a
simulated 200-probe experiment demonstrates accurate false
identification rate estimation, in accordance with disclosed
embodiments.
[0025] FIG. 10 illustrates a computer control system that is
programmed or otherwise configured to implement methods provided
herein.
[0026] FIG. 11 illustrates the performance of a censored protein
identification vs. an uncensored protein identification
approach.
[0027] FIG. 12 illustrates the tolerance of censored protein
identification and uncensored protein identification approaches to
random "false negative" binding outcomes.
[0028] FIG. 13 illustrates the tolerance of censored protein
identification and uncensored protein identification approaches to
random "false positive" binding outcomes.
[0029] FIG. 14 illustrates the performance of censored protein
identification and uncensored protein identification approaches
with overestimated or underestimated affinity reagent binding
probabilities.
[0030] FIG. 15 illustrates the performance of censored protein
identification and uncensored protein identification approaches
using affinity reagents with unknown binding epitopes.
[0031] FIG. 16 illustrates the performance of censored protein
identification and uncensored protein identification approaches
using affinity reagents with missing binding epitopes.
[0032] FIG. 17 illustrates the performance of censored protein
identification and uncensored protein identification approaches
using affinity reagents targeting the top 300 most abundant trimers
in the proteome, 300 randomly selected trimers in the proteome, or
the 300 least abundant trimers in the proteome.
[0033] FIG. 18 illustrates the performance of censored protein
identification and uncensored protein identification approaches
using affinity reagents with random or biosimilar off-target
sites.
[0034] FIG. 19 illustrates the performance of censored protein
identification and uncensored protein identification approaches
using a set of optimal affinity reagents (probes).
[0035] FIG. 20 illustrates the performance of censored protein
identification and uncensored protein identification approaches
using unmixed candidate affinity reagents and mixtures of candidate
affinity reagents.
[0036] FIG. 21 illustrates two hybridization steps in reinforcing a
binding between an affinity reagent and a protein, in accordance
with some embodiments.
[0037] FIG. 22 illustrates the performance of protein
identification using a collection of reagents for selective
modification and detection of 4 amino acids (K, D, C, and W), in
accordance with some embodiments.
[0038] FIG. 23 illustrates the performance of protein
identification using a collection of reagents for selective
modification and detection of 20 amino acids (R, H, K, D, E, S, T,
N, Q, C, G, P, A, V, I, L, M, F, Y, and W), in accordance with some
embodiments.
[0039] FIG. 24 illustrates the performance of protein
identification using measurements of order of amino acids, where
all amino acids are measured with a detection probability (equal to
reaction efficiency) indicated on the x-axis, and the y-axis
indicates the percent of proteins in the sample identified with a
false discovery rate below 1%, in accordance with some
embodiments.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0040] While various embodiments of the invention have been shown
and described herein, it will be obvious to those skilled in the
art that such embodiments are provided by way of example only.
Numerous variations, changes, and substitutions may occur to those
skilled in the art without departing from the invention. It should
be understood that various alternatives to the embodiments of the
invention described herein may be employed.
[0041] The term "sample," as used herein, generally refers to a
biological sample (e.g., a sample containing protein). The samples
may be taken from tissue or cells or from the environment of tissue
or cells. In some examples, the sample may comprise, or be derived
from, a tissue biopsy, blood, blood plasma, extracellular fluid,
dried blood spots, cultured cells, culture media, discarded tissue,
plant matter, synthetic proteins, bacterial and/or viral samples,
fungal tissue, archaea, or protozoans. The sample may have been
isolated from the source prior to collection. Samples may comprise
forensic evidence. Non-limiting examples include a fingerprint,
saliva, urine, blood, stool, semen, or other bodily fluids isolated
from the primary source prior to collection. In some examples, the
protein is isolated from its primary source (cells, tissue, bodily
fluids such as blood, environmental samples, etc.) during sample
preparation. The sample may be derived from an extinct species
including, but not limited to, samples derived from fossils. The
protein may or may not be purified or otherwise enriched from its
primary source. In some cases, the primary source is homogenized
prior to further processing. In some cases, cells are lysed using a
buffer such as RIPA buffer. Denaturing buffers may also be used at
this stage. The sample may be filtered or centrifuged to remove
lipids and particulate matter. The sample may also be purified to
remove nucleic acids, or may be treated with RNases and DNases. The
sample may contain intact proteins, denatured proteins, protein
fragments, or partially degraded proteins.
[0042] The sample may be taken from a subject with a disease or
disorder. The disease or disorder may be an infectious disease, an
immune disorder or disease, a cancer, a genetic disease, a
degenerative disease, a lifestyle disease, an injury, a rare
disease, or an age related disease. The infectious disease may be
caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi, and/or parasites. Non-limiting
examples of cancers include Bladder cancer, Lung cancer, Brain
cancer, Melanoma, Breast cancer, Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, Cervical
cancer, Ovarian cancer, Colorectal cancer, Pancreatic cancer,
Esophageal cancer, Prostate cancer, Kidney cancer, Skin cancer,
Leukemia, Thyroid cancer, Liver cancer, and Uterine cancer. Some
examples of genetic diseases or disorders include, but are not
limited to, multiple sclerosis (MS), cystic fibrosis,
Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, Huntington's disease, Peutz-Jeghers
syndrome, Down syndrome, Rheumatoid arthritis, and Tay-Sachs
disease. Non-limiting examples of lifestyle diseases include
obesity, diabetes, arteriosclerosis, heart disease, stroke,
hypertension, liver cirrhosis, nephritis, cancer, chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), hearing problems, and chronic
backache. Some examples of injuries include, but are not limited
to, abrasion, brain injuries, bruising, burns, concussions,
congestive heart failure, construction injuries, dislocation, flail
chest, fracture, hemothorax, herniated disc, hip pointer,
hypothermia, lacerations, pinched nerve, pneumothorax, rib
fracture, sciatica, spinal cord injury, tendons ligaments fascia
injury, traumatic brain injury, and whiplash. The sample may be
taken before and/or after treatment of a subject with a disease or
disorder. Samples may be taken before and/or after a treatment.
Samples may be taken during a treatment or a treatment regime.
Multiple samples may be taken from a subject to monitor the effects
of the treatment over time. The sample may be taken from a subject
known or suspected of having an infectious disease for which
diagnostic antibodies are not available.
[0043] The sample may be taken from a subject suspected of having a
disease or a disorder. The sample may be taken from a subject
experiencing unexplained symptoms, such as fatigue, nausea, weight
loss, aches and pains, weakness, or memory loss. The sample may be
taken from a subject having explained symptoms. The sample may be
taken from a subject at risk of developing a disease or disorder
due to factors such as familial history, age, environmental
exposure, lifestyle risk factors, or presence of other known risk
factors.
[0044] The sample may be taken from an embryo, fetus, or pregnant
woman. In some examples, the sample may comprise of proteins
isolated from the mother's blood plasma. In some examples, proteins
isolated from circulating fetal cells in the mother's blood.
[0045] The sample may be taken from a healthy individual. In some
cases, samples may be taken longitudinally from the same
individual. In some cases, samples acquired longitudinally may be
analyzed with the goal of monitoring individual health and early
detection of health issues. In some embodiments, the sample may be
collected at a home setting or at a point-of-care setting and
subsequently transported by a mail delivery, courier delivery, or
other transport method prior to analysis. For example, a home user
may collect a blood spot sample through a finger prick, which blood
spot sample may be dried and subsequently transported by mail
delivery prior to analysis. In some cases, samples acquired
longitudinally may be used to monitor response to stimuli expected
to impact healthy, athletic performance, or cognitive performance.
Non-limiting examples include response to medication, dieting, or
an exercise regimen.
[0046] Proteins of the sample may be treated to remove
modifications that may interfere with epitope binding. For example,
the protein may be enzymatically treated. For example, the protein
may be glycosidase treated to remove post-translational
glycosylation. The protein may be treated with a reducing agent to
reduce disulfide binds within the protein. The protein may be
treated with a phosphatase to remove phosphate groups. Other
non-limiting examples of post-translational modifications that may
be removed include acetate, amide groups, methyl groups, lipids,
ubiquitin, myristoylation, palmitoylation, isoprenylation or
prenylation (e.g., farnesol and geranylgeraniol), farnesylation,
geranylgeranylation, glypiation, lipoylation, flavin moiety
attachment, phosphopantetheinylation, and retinylidene Schiff base
formation.
[0047] Proteins of the sample may be treated by modifying one or
more residues to make them more amenable to being bound by or
detected by an affinity reagent. In some cases, proteins of the
sample may be treated to retain post-translational protein
modifications that may facilitate or enhance epitope binding. In
some examples, phosphatase inhibitors may be added to the sample.
In some examples, oxidizing agents may be added to protect
disulfide bonds.
[0048] Proteins of the sample may be denatured in full or in part.
In some embodiments, proteins can be fully denatured. Proteins may
be denatured by application of an external stress such as a
detergent, a strong acid or base, a concentrated inorganic salt, an
organic solvent (e.g., alcohol or chloroform), radiation, or heat.
Proteins may be denatured by addition of a denaturing buffer.
Proteins may also be precipitated, lyophilized, and suspended in
denaturing buffer. Proteins may be denatured by heating. Methods of
denaturing that are unlikely to cause chemical modifications to the
proteins may be preferred.
[0049] Proteins of the sample may be treated to produce shorter
polypeptides, either before or after conjugation. Remaining
proteins may be partially digested with an enzyme such as
ProteinaseK to generate fragments or may be left intact. In further
examples the proteins may be exposed to proteases such as trypsin.
Additional examples of proteases may include serine proteases,
cysteine proteases, threonine proteases, aspartic proteases,
glutamic proteases, metalloproteases, and asparagine peptide
lyases.
[0050] In some cases, it may be useful to remove extremely large
and small proteins (e.g., Titin), e.g., such proteins may be
removed by filtration or other appropriate methods. In some
examples, extremely large proteins may include proteins that are at
least about 400 kilodalton (kD), 450 kD, 500 kD, 600 kD, 650 kD,
700 kD, 750 kD, 800 kD, or 850 kD. In some examples, extremely
large proteins may include proteins that are at least about 8,000
amino acids, about 8,500 amino acids, about 9,000 amino acids,
about 9,500 amino acids, about 10,000 amino acids, about 10,500
amino acids, about 11,000 amino acids, or about 15,000 amino acids.
In some examples, small proteins may include proteins that are less
than about 10 kD, 9 kD, 8 kD, 7 kD, 6 kD, 5 kD, 4 kD, 3 kD, 2 kD,
or 1 kD. In some examples, small proteins may include proteins that
are less than about 50 amino acids, 45 amino acids, 40 amino acids,
35 amino acids, or about 30 amino acids. Extremely large or small
proteins can be removed by size exclusion chromatography. Extremely
large proteins may be isolated by size exclusion chromatography,
treated with proteases to produce moderately sized polypeptides,
and recombined with the moderately size proteins of the sample.
[0051] Proteins of the sample may be tagged, e.g., with
identifiable tags, to allow for multiplexing of samples. Some
non-limiting examples of identifiable tags include: fluorophores,
fluorescent nanoparticles, quantum dots, magnetic nanoparticles, or
DNA barcoded base linkers. Fluorophores used may include
fluorescent proteins such as GFP, YFP, RFP, eGFP, mCherry,
tdtomato, FITC, Alexa Fluor 350, Alexa Fluor 405, Alexa Fluor 488,
Alexa Fluor 532, Alexa Fluor 546, Alexa Fluor 555, Alexa Fluor 568,
Alexa Fluor 594, Alexa Fluor 647, Alexa Fluor 680, Alexa Fluor 750,
Pacific Blue, Coumarin, BODIPY FL, Pacific Green, Oregon Green,
Cy3, Cy5, Pacific Orange, TRITC, Texas Red, Phycoerythrin, and
Allophcocyanin.
[0052] Any number of protein samples may be multiplexed. For
example, a multiplexed reaction may contain proteins from 2, 3, 4,
5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, about 20,
about 25, about 30, about 35, about 40, about 45, about 50, about
55, about 60, about 65, about 70, about 75, about 80, about 85,
about 90, about 95, about 100, or more than about 100 initial
samples. The identifiable tags may provide a way to interrogate
each protein as to its sample of origin, or may direct proteins
from different samples to segregate to different areas or a solid
support. In some embodiments, the proteins are then applied to a
functionalized substrate to chemically attach proteins to the
substrate.
[0053] Any number of protein samples may be mixed prior to analysis
without tagging or multiplexing. For example, a multiplexed
reaction may contain proteins from 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11,
12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, about 20, about 25, about 30, about
35, about 40, about 45, about 50, about 55, about 60, about 65,
about 70, about 75, about 80, about 85, about 90, about 95, about
100, or more than about 100 initial samples. For example,
diagnostics for rare conditions may be performed on pooled samples.
Analysis of individual samples may then be performed only from
samples in a pool that tested positive for the diagnostic. Samples
may be multiplexed without tagging using a combinatorial pooling
design in which samples are mixed into pools in a manner that
allows signal from individual samples to be resolved from the
analyzed pools using computational demultiplexing.
[0054] The term "substrate," as used herein, generally refers to a
substrate capable of forming a solid support. Substrates, or solid
substrates, can refer to any solid surface to which proteins can be
covalently or non-covalently attached. Non-limiting examples of
solid substrates include particles, beads, slides, surfaces of
elements of devices, membranes, flow cells, wells, chambers,
macrofluidic chambers, microfluidic chambers, channels,
microfluidic channels, or any other surfaces. Substrate surfaces
can be flat or curved, or can have other shapes, and can be smooth
or textured. Substrate surfaces may contain microwells. In some
embodiments, the substrate can be composed of glass, carbohydrates
such as dextrans, plastics such as polystyrene or polypropylene,
polyacrylamide, latex, silicon, metals such as gold, or cellulose,
and may be further modified to allow or enhance covalent or
non-covalent attachment of the proteins. For example, the substrate
surface may be functionalized by modification with specific
functional groups, such as maleic or succinic moieties, or
derivatized by modification with a chemically reactive group, such
as amino, thiol, or acrylate groups, such as by silanization.
Suitable silane reagents include aminopropyltrimethoxysilane,
aminopropyltriethoxysilane and 4-aminobutyltriethoxysilane. The
substrate may be functionalized with N-Hydroxysuccinimide (NHS)
functional groups. Glass surfaces can also be derivatized with
other reactive groups, such as acrylate or epoxy, using, e.g.,
epoxysilane, acrylatesilane or acrylamidesilane. The substrate and
process for protein attachment are preferably stable for repeated
binding, washing, imaging and eluting steps. In some examples, the
substrate may be a slide, a flow cell, or a microscaled or
nanoscaled structure (e.g., an ordered structure such as
microwells, micropillars, single molecule arrays, nanoballs,
nanopillars, or nanowires).
[0055] The spacing of the functional groups on the substrate may be
ordered or random. An ordered array of functional groups may be
created by, for example, photolithography, Dip-Pen nanolithography,
nanoimprint lithography, nanosphere lithography, nanoball
lithography, nanopillar arrays, nanowire lithography, scanning
probe lithography, thermochemical lithography, thermal scanning
probe lithography, local oxidation nanolithography, molecular
self-assembly, stencil lithography, or electron-beam lithography.
Functional groups in an ordered array may be located such that each
functional group is less than 200 nanometers (nm), or about 200 nm,
about 225 nm, about 250 nm, about 275 nm, about 300 nm, about 325
nm, about 350 nm, about 375 nm, about 400 nm, about 425 nm, about
450 nm, about 475 nm, about 500 nm, about 525 nm, about 550 nm,
about 575 nm, about 600 nm, about 625 nm, about 650 nm, about 675
nm, about 700 nm, about 725 nm, about 750 nm, about 775 nm, about
800 nm, about 825 nm, about 850 nm, about 875 nm, about 900 nm,
about 925 nm, about 950 nm, about 975 nm, about 1000 nm, about 1025
nm, about 1050 nm, about 1075 nm, about 1100 nm, about 1125 nm,
about 1150 nm, about 1175 nm, about 1200 nm, about 1225 nm, about
1250 nm, about 1275 nm, about 1300 nm, about 1325 nm, about 1350
nm, about 1375 nm, about 1400 nm, about 1425 nm, about 1450 nm,
about 1475 nm, about 1500 nm, about 1525 nm, about 1550 nm, about
1575 nm, about 1600 nm, about 1625 nm, about 1650 nm, about 1675
nm, about 1700 nm, about 1725 nm, about 1750 nm, about 1775 nm,
about 1800 nm, about 1825 nm, about 1850 nm, about 1875 nm, about
1900 nm, about 1925 nm, about 1950 nm, about 1975 nm, about 2000
nm, or more than 2000 nm from any other functional group.
Functional groups in a random spacing may be provided at a
concentration such that functional groups are on average at least
about 50 nm, about 100 nm, about 150 nm, about 200 nm, about 250
nm, about 300 nm, about 350 nm, about 400 nm, about 450 nm, about
500 nm, about 550 nm, about 600 nm, about 650 nm, about 700 nm,
about 750 nm, about 800 nm, about 850 nm, about 900 nm, about 950
nm, about 1000 nm, or more than 100 nm from any other functional
group.
[0056] The substrate may be indirectly functionalized. For example,
the substrate may be PEGylated and a functional group may be
applied to all or a subset of the PEG molecules. The substrate may
be functionalized using techniques suitable for microscaled or
nanoscaled structures (e.g., an ordered structure such as
microwells, micropillars, single molecular arrays, nanoballs,
nanopillars, or nanowires).
[0057] The substrate may comprise any material, including metals,
glass, plastics, ceramics or combinations thereof. In some
preferred embodiments, the solid substrate can be a flow cell. The
flow cell can be composed of a single layer or multiple layers. For
example, a flow cell can comprise a base layer (e.g., of boro
silicate glass), a channel layer (e.g., of etched silicon) overlaid
upon the base layer, and a cover, or top, layer. When the layers
are assembled together, enclosed channels can be formed having
inlet/outlets at either end through the cover. The thickness of
each layer can vary, but is preferably less than about 1700 .mu.m.
Layers can be composed of suitable materials such as photosensitive
glasses, borosilicate glass, fused silicate, PDMS, or silicon.
Different layers can be composed of the same material or different
materials.
[0058] In some embodiments, flow cells can comprise openings for
channels on the bottom of the flow cell. A flow cell can comprise
millions of attached target conjugation sites in locations that can
be discretely visualized. In some embodiments, various flow cells
of use with embodiments of the invention can comprise different
numbers of channels (e.g., 1 channel, 2 or more channels, 3 or more
channels, 4 or more channels, 6 or more channels, 8 or more
channels, 10 or more channels, 12 or more channels, 16 or more
channels, or more than 16 channels). Various flow cells can
comprise channels of different depths or widths, which may be
different between channels within a single flow cell, or different
between channels of different flow cells. A single channel can also
vary in depth and/or width. For example, a channel can be less than
about 50 .mu.m deep, about 50 .mu.m deep, less than about 100 .mu.m
deep, about 100 .mu.m deep, about 100 .mu.m about 500 .mu.m deep,
about 500 .mu.m deep, or more than about 500 .mu.m deep at one or
more points within the channel. Channels can have any cross
sectional shape, including but not limited to a circular, a
semi-circular, a rectangular, a trapezoidal, a triangular, or an
ovoid cross-section.
[0059] The proteins may be spotted, dropped, pipetted, flowed,
washed or otherwise applied to the substrate. In the case of a
substrate that has been functionalized with a moiety such as an NHS
ester, no modification of the protein is required. In the case of a
substrate that has been functionalized with alternate moieties
(e.g., a sulfhydryl, amine, or linker nucleic acid), a crosslinking
reagent (e.g., disuccinimidyl suberate, NHS, sulphonamides) may be
used. In the case of a substrate that has been functionalized with
linker nucleic acid, the proteins of the sample may be modified
with complementary nucleic acid tags.
[0060] Photo-activatable cross linkers may be used to direct cross
linking of a sample to a specific area on the substrate.
Photo-activatable cross linkers may be used to allow multiplexing
of protein samples by attaching each sample in a known region of
the substrate. Photo-activatable cross linkers may allow the
specific attachment of proteins which have been successfully
tagged, for example, by detecting a fluorescent tag before cross
linking a protein. Examples of photo-activatable cross linkers
include, but are not limited to,
N-5-azido-2-nitrobenzoyloxysuccinimide, sulfosuccinimidyl
6-(4'-azido-2'-nitrophenylamino)hexanoate, succinimidyl
4,4'-azipentanoate, sulfosuccinimidyl 4,4'-azipentanoate,
succinimidyl 6-(4,4'-azipentanamido)hexanoate, sulfosuccinimidyl
6-(4,4'-azipentanamido)hexanoate, succinimidyl
2-((4,4'-azipentanamido)ethyl)-1,3'-dithiopropionate, and
sulfosuccinimidyl
2-((4,4'-azipentanamido)ethyl)-1,3'-dithiopropionate.
[0061] The polypeptides may be attached to the substrate by one or
more residues. In some examples, the polypeptides may be attached
via the N terminal, C terminal, both terminals, or via an internal
residue.
[0062] In addition to permanent crosslinkers, it may be appropriate
for some applications to use photo-cleavable linkers and that doing
so enables proteins to be selectively extracted from the substrate
following analysis. In some cases photo-cleavable cross linkers may
be used for several different multiplexed samples. In some cases
photo-cleavable cross linkers may be used from one or more samples
within a multiplexed reaction. In some cases a multiplexed reaction
may comprise control samples cross linked to the substrate via
permanent crosslinkers and experimental samples cross linked to the
substrate via photo-cleavable crosslinkers.
[0063] Each conjugated protein may be spatially separated from each
other conjugated protein such that each conjugated protein is
optically resolvable. Proteins may thus be individually labeled
with a unique spatial address. In some embodiments, this can be
accomplished by conjugation using low concentrations of protein and
low density of attachment sites on the substrate so that each
protein molecule is spatially separated from each other protein
molecule. In examples where photo-activatable crosslinkers are used
a light pattern may be used such that proteins are affixed to
predetermined locations.
[0064] In some embodiments, each protein may be associated with a
unique spatial address. For example, once the proteins are attached
to the substrate in spatially separated locations, each protein can
be assigned an indexed address, such as by coordinates. In some
examples, a grid of pre-assigned unique spatial addresses may be
predetermined. In some embodiments the substrate may contain easily
identifiable fixed marks such that placement of each protein can be
determined relative to the fixed marks of the substrate. In some
examples, the substrate may have grid lines and/or and "origin" or
other fiducials permanently marked on the surface. In some
examples, the surface of the substrate may be permanently or
semi-permanently marked to provide a reference by which to locate
cross linked proteins. The shape of the patterning itself, such as
the exterior border of the conjugated polypeptides, may also be
used as fiducials for determining the unique location of each
spot.
[0065] The substrate may also contain conjugated protein standards
and controls. Conjugated protein standards and controls may be
peptides or proteins of known sequence which have been conjugated
in known locations. In some examples, conjugated protein standards
and controls may serve as internal controls in an assay. The
proteins may be applied to the substrate from purified protein
stocks, or may be synthesized on the substrate through a process
such as Nucleic Acid-Programmable Protein Array (NAPPA).
[0066] In some examples, the substrate may comprise fluorescent
standards. These fluorescent standards may be used to calibrate the
intensity of the fluorescent signals from assay to assay. These
fluorescent standards may also be used to correlate the intensity
of a fluorescent signal with the number of fluorophores present in
an area. Fluorescent standards may comprise some or all of the
different types of fluorophores used in the assay.
[0067] Once the substrate has been conjugated with the proteins
from the sample, multi-affinity reagent measurements can be
performed. The measurement processes described herein may utilize
various affinity reagents. In some embodiments, multiple affinity
reagents may be mixed together and measurements may be performed on
the binding of the affinity reagent mixture to the
protein-substrate conjugate. In some cases, measurements performed
on the binding of affinity reagent mixtures may vary across
different solvent conditions and/or protein folding conditions;
therefore, repeated measurements may be performed on the same
affinity reagent or set of affinity reagents, under such varying
solvent conditions and/or protein folding conditions, in order to
obtain different sets of binding measurements. In some cases,
different sets of binding measurements may be obtained by
performing repeated measurements on samples in which proteins have
been enzymatically treated (e.g., with glycosidase, phosphorylase,
or phosphatase) or not enzymatically treated.
[0068] The term "affinity reagent," as used herein, generally
refers to a reagent that binds proteins or peptides with
reproducible specificity. For example, the affinity reagents may be
antibodies, antibody fragments, aptamers, mini-protein binders, or
peptides. In some embodiments, mini-protein binders may comprise
protein binders that may be between 30-210 amino acids in length.
In some embodiments, mini-protein binders may be designed. For
example, protein binders may include peptide macrocycles, (e.g., as
described in [Hosseinzadeh et al., "Comprehensive computational
design of ordered peptide macrocycles," Science, 2017 Dec. 15;
358(6369): 1461-1466], which is incorporated herein by reference in
its entirety). In some embodiments, monoclonal antibodies may be
preferred. In some embodiments, antibody fragments such as Fab
fragments may be preferred. In some embodiments, the affinity
reagents may be commercially available affinity reagents, such as
commercially available antibodies. In some embodiments, the desired
affinity reagents may be selected by screening commercially
available affinity reagents to identify those with useful
characteristics.
[0069] The affinity reagents may have high, moderate, or low
specificity. In some examples, the affinity reagents may recognize
several different epitopes. In some examples, the affinity reagents
may recognize epitopes present in two or more different proteins.
In some examples, the affinity reagents may recognize epitopes
present in many different proteins. In some cases, an affinity
reagent used in the methods of this disclosure may be highly
specific for a single epitope. In some cases, an affinity reagent
used in the methods of this disclosure may be highly specific for a
single epitope containing a post-translational modification. In
some cases, affinity reagents may have highly similar epitope
specificity. In some cases, affinity reagents with highly similar
epitope specificity may be designed specifically to resolve highly
similar protein candidate sequences (e.g. candidates with single
amino acid variants or isoforms). In some cases, affinity reagents
may have highly diverse epitope specificity to maximize protein
sequence coverage. In some embodiments, experiments may be
performed in replicate with the same affinity probe with the
expectation that the results may differ, and thus provide
additional information for protein identification, due to the
stochastic nature of probe binding to the protein-substrate.
[0070] In some cases, the specific epitope or epitopes recognized
by an affinity reagent may not be fully known. For example,
affinity reagents may be designed or selected for binding
specifically to one or more whole proteins, protein complexes, or
protein fragments without knowledge of a specific binding epitope.
Through a qualification process, the binding profile of this
reagent may have been elaborated. Even though the specific binding
epitope(s) are unknown, binding measurements using said affinity
reagent may be used to determine protein identity. For example, a
commercially-available antibody or aptamer designed for binding to
a protein target may be used as an affinity reagent. Following
qualification under assay conditions (e.g., fully folded, partially
denaturing, or fully denaturing), binding of this affinity reagent
to an unknown protein may provide information about the identity of
the unknown protein. In some cases, a collection of
protein-specific affinity reagents (e.g., commercially-available
antibodies or aptamers) may be used to generate protein
identifications, either with or without knowledge of the specific
epitopes they target. In some cases, the collection of
protein-specific affinity reagents may comprise about 50, 100, 200,
300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900, 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000,
10000, 20000, or more than 20000 affinity reagents. In some cases,
the collection of affinity reagents may comprise all
commercially-available affinity reagents demonstrating
target-reactivity in a specific organism. For example, a collection
of protein-specific affinity reagents may be assayed in series,
with binding measurements for each affinity reagent made
individually. In some cases, subsets of the protein-specific
affinity reagents may be mixed prior to binding measurement. For
example, for each binding measurement pass, a new mixture of
affinity reagents may be selected comprising a subset of the
affinity reagents selected at random from the complete set. For
example, each subsequent mixture may be generated in the same
random manner, with the expectation that many of the affinity
reagents will be present in more than one of the mixtures. In some
cases, protein identifications may be generated more rapidly using
mixtures of protein-specific affinity reagents. In some cases, such
mixtures of protein-specific affinity reagents may increase the
percentage of unknown proteins for which an affinity reagent binds
in any individual pass. Mixtures of affinity reagents may comprise
about 1%, 5%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, or more
than 90% of all available affinity reagents. Mixtures of affinity
reagents assessed in a single experiment may or may not share
individual affinity reagents in common. In some cases, there may be
multiple different affinity reagents within a collection that bind
to the same protein. In some cases, each affinity reagent in the
collection may bind to a different protein. In cases where multiple
affinity reagents with affinity for the same protein bind to a
single unknown protein, confidence in the identity of the unknown
protein being the common target of said affinity reagents may
increase. In some cases, using multiple protein affinity reagents
targeting the same protein may provide redundancy in cases where
the multiple affinity reagents bind different epitopes on the same
protein, and binding of only a subset of the affinity reagents
targeting that protein may be interfered with by post-translational
modifications or other steric hinderance of a binding epitope. In
some cases, binding of affinity reagents for which the binding
epitope is unknown may be used in conjunction with binding
measurements of affinity reagents for which the binding epitope is
known to generate protein identifications.
[0071] In some examples, one or more affinity reagents may be
chosen to bind amino acid motifs of a given length, such as 2, 3,
4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or more than 10 amino acids. In some
examples, one or more affinity reagents may be chosen to bind amino
acid motifs of a range of different lengths from 2 amino acids to
40 amino acids.
[0072] In some cases, the affinity reagents may be labeled with
nucleic acid barcodes. In some examples, nucleic acid barcodes may
be used to purify affinity reagents after use. In some examples,
nucleic acid barcodes may be used to sort the affinity reagents for
repeated uses. In some cases, the affinity reagents may be labeled
with fluorophores which may be used to sort the affinity reagents
after use.
[0073] The family of affinity reagents may comprise one or more
types of affinity reagents. For example, the methods of the present
disclosure may use a family of affinity reagents comprising one or
more of antibodies, antibody fragments, Fab fragments, aptamers,
peptides, and proteins.
[0074] The affinity reagents may be modified. Examples of
modifications include, but are not limited to, attachment of a
detection moiety. Detection moieties may be directly or indirectly
attached. For example, the detection moiety may be directly
covalently attached to the affinity reagent, or may be attached
through a linker, or may be attached through an affinity reaction
such as complementary nucleic acid tags or a biotin streptavidin
pair. Attachment methods that are able to withstand gentle washing
and elution of the affinity reagent may be preferred.
[0075] Affinity reagents may be tagged, e.g., with identifiable
tags, to allow for identification or quantification of binding
events (e.g., with fluorescence detection of binding events). Some
non-limiting examples of identifiable tags include: fluorophores,
magnetic nanoparticles, or nucleic acid barcoded base linkers.
Fluorophores used may include fluorescent proteins such as GFP,
YFP, RFP, eGFP, mCherry, tdtomato, FITC, Alexa Fluor 350, Alexa
Fluor 405, Alexa Fluor 488, Alexa Fluor 532, Alexa Fluor 546, Alexa
Fluor 555, Alexa Fluor 568, Alexa Fluor 594, Alexa Fluor 647, Alexa
Fluor 680, Alexa Fluor 750, Pacific Blue, Coumarin, BODIPY FL,
Pacific Green, Oregon Green, Cy3, Cy5, Pacific Orange, TRITC, Texas
Red, Phycoerythrin, and Allophcocyanin. Alternatively, affinity
reagents may be untagged, such as when binding events are directly
detected, e.g., with surface plasmon resonance (SPR) detection of
binding events.
[0076] Examples of detection moieties include, but are not limited
to, fluorophores, bioluminescent proteins, nucleic acid segments
including a constant region and barcode region, or chemical tethers
for linking to a nanoparticle such as a magnetic particle. For
example, affinity reagents may be tagged with DNA barcodes, which
can then be explicitly sequenced at their locations. As another
example, sets of different fluorophores may be used as detection
moieties by fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) detection
methods. Detection moieties may include several different
fluorophores with different patterns of excitation or emission.
[0077] The detection moiety may be cleavable from the affinity
reagent. This can allow for a step in which the detection moieties
are removed from affinity reagents that are no longer of interest
to reduce signal contamination.
[0078] In some cases, the affinity reagents are unmodified. For
example, if the affinity reagent is an antibody then the presence
of the antibody may be detected by atomic force microscopy. The
affinity reagents may be unmodified and may be detected, for
example, by having antibodies specific to one or more of the
affinity reagents. For example, if the affinity reagent is a mouse
antibody, then the mouse antibody may be detected by using an
anti-mouse secondary antibody. Alternatively, the affinity reagent
may be an aptamer which is detected by an antibody specific for the
aptamer. The secondary antibody may be modified with a detection
moiety as described above. In some cases, the presence of the
secondary antibody may be detected by atomic force microscopy.
[0079] In some examples, the affinity reagents may comprise the
same modification, for example, a conjugated green fluorescent
protein, or may comprise two or more different types of
modification. For example, each affinity reagent may be conjugated
to one of several different fluorescent moieties, each with a
different wavelength of excitation or emission. This may allow
multiplexing of the affinity reagents as several different affinity
reagents may be combined and/or distinguished. In one example, a
first affinity reagent may be conjugated to a green fluorescent
protein, a second affinity reagent may be conjugated to a yellow
fluorescent protein and a third affinity reagent may be conjugated
to a red fluorescent protein, thus the three affinity reagents can
be multiplexed and identified by their fluorescence. In a further
example a first, fourth, and seventh affinity reagent may be
conjugated to a green fluorescent protein, a second, fifth, and
eighth affinity reagent may be conjugated to a yellow fluorescent
protein, and a third, sixth, and ninth affinity reagent may be
conjugated to a red fluorescent protein; in this case, the first,
second, and third affinity reagents may be multiplexed together
while the second, fourth, and seventh affinity reagents and the
third, sixth, and ninth affinity reagents form two further
multiplexing reactions. The number of affinity reagents which can
be multiplexed together may depend on the detection moieties used
to differentiate them. For example, the multiplexing of affinity
reagents labeled with fluorophores may be limited by the number of
unique fluorophores available. For further example, the
multiplexing of affinity reagents labeled with nucleic acid tags
may be determined by the length of the nucleic acid bar code.
Nucleic acids may be deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) or ribonucleic
acid (RNA).
[0080] The specificity of each affinity reagent can be determined
prior to use in an assay. The binding specificity of the affinity
reagents can be determined in a control experiment using known
proteins. Any appropriate experimental methods may be used to
determine the specificity of the affinity reagent. In one example,
a substrate may be loaded with known protein standards at known
locations and used to assess the specificity of a plurality of
affinity reagents. In another example, a substrate may contain both
experimental samples and a panel of controls and standards, such
that the specificity of each affinity reagent can be calculated
from the binding to the controls and standards and then used to
identify the experimental samples. In some cases, affinity reagents
with unknown specificity may be included along with affinity
reagents of known specificity, data from the known specificity
affinity reagents may be used to identify proteins, and the pattern
of binding of the unknown specificity affinity reagents to the
identified proteins may be used to determine their binding
specificity. It is also possible to reconfirm the specificity of
any individual affinity reagent by using the known binding data of
other affinity reagents to assess which proteins the individual
affinity reagent bound. In some cases, the frequency of binding of
the affinity reagent to each known protein conjugated to the
substrate may be used to derive a probability of binding to any of
the proteins on the substrate. In some cases, the frequency of
binding to known proteins containing an epitope (e.g., an amino
acid sequence or post-translational modification) may be used to
determine the probability of binding of the affinity reagent to a
particular epitope. Thus with multiple uses of an affinity reagent
panel, the specificities of the affinity reagents may be
increasingly refined with each iteration. While affinity reagents
that are uniquely specific to particular proteins may be used,
methods described herein may not require them. Additionally,
methods may be effective on a range of specificities. In some
examples, methods described herein may be particularly efficient
when affinity reagents are not specific to any particular protein,
but are instead specific to amino acid motifs (e.g., the
tri-peptide AAA).
[0081] In some examples, the affinity reagents may be chosen to
have high, moderate, or low binding affinities. In some cases,
affinity reagents with low or moderate binding affinities may be
preferred. In some cases, the affinity reagents may have
dissociation constants of about 10.sup.-3 M, 10.sup.-4 M, 10.sup.-5
M, 10.sup.-6 M, 10.sup.-7 M, 10.sup.-8 M, 10.sup.-9 M, 10.sup.-10
M, or less than about 10.sup.-10 M. In some cases the affinity
reagents may have dissociation constants of greater than about
10.sup.-10 M, 10.sup.-9 M, 10.sup.-8 M, 10.sup.-7 M, 10.sup.-6 M,
10.sup.-5 M, 10.sup.-4 M, 10.sup.-3 M, 10.sup.-2 M, or greater than
10.sup.-2 M. In some cases, affinity reagents with low or moderate
k.sub.off rates or moderate or high k.sub.on rates may be
preferred.
[0082] Some of the affinity reagents may be chosen to bind modified
amino acid sequences, such as phosphorylated or ubiquitinated amino
acid sequences. In some examples, one or more affinity reagents may
be chosen to be broadly specific for a family of epitopes that may
be contained by one or more proteins. In some examples, one or more
affinity reagents may bind two or more different proteins. In some
examples, one or more affinity reagents may bind weakly to their
target or targets. For example, affinity reagents may bind less
than 10%, less than 10%, less than 15%, less than 20%, less than
25%, less than 30%, or less than 35% to their target or targets. In
some examples, one or more affinity reagents may bind moderately or
strongly to their target or targets. For example, affinity reagents
may bind more than 35%, more than 40%, more than 45%, more than
60%, more than 65%, more than 70%, more than 75%, more than 80%,
more than 85%, more than 90%, more than 91%, more than 92%, more
than 93%, more than 94%, more than 95%, more than 96%, more than
97%, more than 98%, or more than 99% to their target or
targets.
[0083] To compensate for weak binding, an excess of the affinity
reagent may be applied to the substrate. The affinity reagent may
be applied at about a 1:1, 2:1, 3:1, 4:1, 5:1, 6:1, 7:1, 8:1, 9:1,
or 10:1 excess relative to the sample proteins. The affinity
reagent may be applied at about a 1:1, 2:1, 3:1, 4:1, 5:1, 6:1,
7:1, 8:1, 9:1, or 10:1 excess relative to the expected incidence of
the epitope in the sample proteins.
[0084] To compensate for high affinity reagent dissociation rates,
a linker moiety may be attached to each affinity reagent and used
to reversibly link bound affinity reagents to the substrate or
unknown protein to which it binds. For example, a DNA tag may be
attached to the end of each affinity reagent and a different DNA
tag attached to the substrate or each unknown protein. After the
affinity reagent is hybridized with the unknown proteins, a linker
DNA complementary to the affinity reagent-associated DNA tag on one
end and the substrate-associated tag on the other may be washed
over the chip to bind the affinity reagent to the substrate and
prevent the affinity reagent from dissociating prior to
measurement. After binding, the linked affinity reagent may be
released by washing in the presence of heat or high salt
concentration to disrupt the DNA linker bond.
[0085] FIG. 21 illustrates two hybridization steps in reinforcing a
binding between an affinity reagent and a protein, in accordance
with some embodiments. In particular, step 1 of FIG. 21 illustrates
an affinity reagent hybridization. As seen in step 1, affinity
reagent 2110 hybridizes to protein 2130. Protein 2130 is bound to a
slide 2105. As seen in step 1, affinity reagent 2110 has a DNA tag
2120 attached. In some embodiments, an affinity reagent may have
more than one DNA tag attached. In some embodiments, an affinity
reagent may have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15,
16, 17, 18, 19, 20, or more than 20 DNA tags attached. DNA tag 2120
comprises a single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) tag having a recognition
sequence 2125. Additionally, protein 2130 comprises two DNA tags
2140. In some embodiments, DNA tags may be added using chemistry
that reacts with cysteines in a protein. In some embodiments, a
protein may have more than one DNA tag attached. In some
embodiments, a protein may have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11,
12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60,
65, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 95, 100, or more than 100 DNA tags
attached. Each DNA tag 2140 comprises an ssDNA tag having a
recognition sequence 2145.
[0086] As seen in step 2, DNA linker 2150 hybridizes to DNA tags
2120 and 2140 attached to affinity reagent 2110 and protein 2130,
respectively. DNA linker 2150 comprises ssDNA having complementary
sequences to recognition sequences 2125 and 2145, respectively.
Further, recognition sequences 2125 and 2145 are situated on DNA
linker 2150 so as to allow for DNA linker 2150 to bind to both DNA
tags 2120 and 2140 at the same time, as illustrated in step 2. In
particular, a first region 2152 of DNA linker 2150 selectively
hybridizes to recognition sequence 2125, and a second region 2154
of DNA linker 2150 selectively hybridizes to recognition sequence
2145. In some embodiments, first region 2152 and second region 2154
may be spaced apart from each other on the DNA linker. In
particular, in some embodiments, a first region of a DNA linker and
a second region of a DNA linker may be spaced apart with a
non-hybridizing spacer sequence between the first region and the
second region. Further, in some embodiments, a sequence of
recognition sequence may be less than fully complementary to a DNA
linker and may still bind to the DNA linker sequence. In some
embodiments, a length of a recognition sequence may be less than 5
nucleotides, 5 nucleotides, 6 nucleotides, 7 nucleotides, 8
nucleotides, 9 nucleotides, 10 nucleotides, 11 nucleotides, 12
nucleotides, 13 nucleotides, 14 nucleotides, 15 nucleotides, 16
nucleotides, 17 nucleotides, 18 nucleotides, 19 nucleotides, 20
nucleotides, 21 nucleotides, 22 nucleotides, 23 nucleotides, 24
nucleotides, 25 nucleotides, 26 nucleotides, 27 nucleotides, 28
nucleotides, 29 nucleotides, or 30 nucleotides, or more than 30
nucleotides. In some embodiments, a recognition sequence may have
one or more mismatches to a complementary DNA tag sequence. In some
embodiments, approximately 1 in 10 nucleotides of a recognition
sequence may be mismatched with a complementary DNA tag sequence
and may still hybridize with the complementary DNA tag sequence. In
some embodiments, less than 1 in 10 nucleotides of a recognition
sequence may be mismatched with a complementary DNA tag sequence
and may still hybridize with the complementary DNA tag sequence. In
some embodiments, approximately 2 in 10 nucleotides of a
recognition sequence may be mismatched with a complementary DNA tag
sequence and may still hybridize with the complementary DNA tag
sequence. In some embodiments, more than 2 in 10 nucleotides of a
recognition sequence may be mismatched with a complementary DNA tag
sequence and may still hybridize with the complementary DNA tag
sequence.
[0087] The affinity reagents may also comprise a magnetic
component. The magnetic component may be useful for manipulating
some or all bound affinity reagents into the same imaging plane or
z stack. Manipulating some or all affinity reagents into the same
imaging plane may improve the quality of the imaging data and
reduce noise in the system.
[0088] The term "detector," as used herein, generally refers to a
device that is capable of detecting a signal, including a signal
indicative of the presence or absence of a binding event of an
affinity reagent to a protein. The signal may be a direct signal
indicative of the presence or absence of a binding event, such as a
surface plasmon resonance (SPR) signal. The signal may be an
indirect signal indicative of the presence or absence of a binding
event, such as a fluorescent signal. In some cases, a detector can
include optical and/or electronic components that can detect
signals. The term "detector" may be used in detection methods.
Non-limiting examples of detection methods include optical
detection, spectroscopic detection, electrostatic detection,
electrochemical detection, magnetic detection, fluorescence
detection, surface plasmon resonance (SPR), and the like. Examples
of optical detection methods include, but are not limited to,
fluorimetry and UV-vis light absorbance. Examples of spectroscopic
detection methods include, but are not limited to, mass
spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, and
infrared spectroscopy. Examples of electrostatic detection methods
include, but are not limited to, gel based techniques, such as, gel
electrophoresis. Examples of electrochemical detection methods
include, but are not limited to, electrochemical detection of
amplified product after high-performance liquid chromatography
separation of the amplified products.
Protein Identification in a Sample
[0089] Proteins are vital building blocks of cells and tissues of
living organisms. A given organism produces a large set of
different proteins, typically referred to as the proteome. The
proteome may vary with time and as a function of various stages
(e.g., cell cycle stages or disease states) that a cell or organism
undergoes. A large-scale study or measurement (e.g., experimental
analysis) of proteomes may be referred to as proteomics. In
proteomics, multiple methods exist to identify proteins, including
immunoassays (e.g., enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and
Western blot), mass spectroscopy-based methods (e.g.,
matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) and
electrospray ionization (ESI)), hybrid methods (e.g., mass
spectrometric immunoassay (MSIA)), and protein microarrays. For
example, single-molecule proteomics methods may attempt to infer
the identity of protein molecules in a sample by diverse
approaches, ranging from direct functionalization of amino acids to
using affinity reagents. The information or measurements gathered
from such approaches are typically analyzed by suitable algorithms
to identify the proteins present in the sample.
[0090] Accurate quantification of proteins may also encounter
challenges owing to lack of sensitivity, lack of specificity, and
detector noise. In particular, accurate quantification of proteins
in a sample may encounter challenges owing to random and
unpredictable systematic variations in signal level of detectors,
which can cause errors in identifying and quantifying proteins. In
some cases, instrument and detection systematics can be calibrated
and removed by monitoring instrument diagnostics and common-mode
behavior. However, binding of proteins (e.g., by affinity reagent
probes) is inherently a probabilistic process which may have less
than ideal sensitivity and specificity of binding.
[0091] The present disclosure provides methods and systems for
accurate and efficient identification of proteins. Methods and
systems provided herein can significantly reduce or eliminate
errors in identifying proteins in a sample. Such methods and
systems may achieve accurate and efficient identification of
candidate proteins within a sample of unknown proteins. The protein
identification may be based on calculations using information of
empirical measurements of the unknown proteins in the sample. For
example, empirical measurements may include binding information of
affinity reagent probes which are configured to selectively bind to
one or more candidate proteins, protein length, protein
hydrophobicity, and/or isoelectric point. The protein
identification may be optimized to be computable within a minimal
memory footprint. The protein identification may comprise
estimation of a confidence level that each of one or more candidate
proteins is present in the sample.
[0092] In an aspect, disclosed herein is a computer-implemented
method 100 for identifying a protein within a sample of unknown
proteins (e.g., as illustrated in FIG. 1). The method may be
applied independently to each unknown protein in the sample, to
generate a collection of proteins identified in the sample. Protein
quantities may be calculated by counting the number of
identifications for each candidate protein. The method for
identifying a protein may comprise receiving, by the computer,
information of a plurality of empirical measurements of the unknown
protein in the sample (e.g., step 105). The empirical measurements
may comprise (i) binding measurements of each of one or more
affinity reagent probes to one or more of the unknown proteins in
the sample, (ii) length of one or more of the unknown proteins;
(iii) hydrophobicity of one or more of the unknown proteins; and/or
(iv) isoelectric point of one or more of the unknown proteins. In
some embodiments, a plurality of affinity reagent probes may
comprise a pool of a plurality of individual affinity reagent
probes. For example, a pool of affinity reagent probes may comprise
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or more than 10 types of affinity
reagent probes. In some embodiments, a pool of affinity reagent
probes may comprise 2 types of affinity reagent probes that
combined make up a majority of the composition of the affinity
reagent probes in the pool of affinity reagent probes. In some
embodiments, a pool of affinity reagent probes may comprise 3 types
of affinity reagent probes that combined make up a majority of the
composition of the affinity reagent probes in the pool of affinity
reagent probes. In some embodiments, a pool of affinity reagent
probes may comprise 4 types of affinity reagent probes that
combined make up a majority of the composition of the affinity
reagent probes in the pool of affinity reagent probes. In some
embodiments, a pool of affinity reagent probes may comprise 5 types
of affinity reagent probes that combined make up a majority of the
composition of the affinity reagent probes in the pool of affinity
reagent probes. In some embodiments, a pool of affinity reagent
probes may comprise more than 5 types of affinity reagent probes
that combined make up a majority of the composition of the affinity
reagent probes in the pool of affinity reagent probes. Each of the
affinity reagent probes may be configured to selectively bind to
one or more candidate proteins among the plurality of candidate
proteins. The affinity reagent probes may be k-mer affinity reagent
probes. In some embodiments, each k-mer affinity reagent probe is
configured to selectively bind to one or more candidate proteins
among a plurality of candidate proteins. The information of
empirical measurements may comprise binding measurements of a set
of probes that are believed to have bound to an unknown
protein.
[0093] Next, at least a portion of the information of empirical
measurements of an unknown protein may be compared, by the
computer, against a database comprising a plurality of protein
sequences (e.g., step 110). Each of the protein sequences may
correspond to a candidate protein among the plurality of candidate
proteins. The plurality of candidate proteins may comprise at least
10, at least 20, at least 30, at least 40, at least 50, at least
60, at least 70, at least 80, at least 90, at least 100, at least
150, at least 200, at least 250, at least 300, at least 350, at
least 400, at least 450, at least 500, at least 600, at least 700,
at least 800, at least 900, at least 1000, or more than 1000
different candidate proteins.
[0094] Next, for each of one or more candidate proteins in the
plurality of candidate proteins, a probability that an empirical
measurement on the candidate protein would generate an observed
measurement outcome may be calculated or generated, by the computer
(e.g., in step 115). The term "measurement outcome," as used
herein, refers to the information observed on performing a
measurement. For example, the measurement outcome of an affinity
reagent binding experiment may be a positive or negative outcome,
such as either binding or non-binding of the reagent. As another
example, the measurement outcome of an experiment measuring the
length of a protein may be 417 amino acids. Additionally, or
alternatively, for each of one or more candidate proteins in the
plurality of candidate proteins, a probability that an empirical
measurement on the candidate protein would not generate an observed
measurement outcome, may be calculated or generated, by the
computer. Additionally, or alternatively, a probability that an
empirical measurement on the candidate protein would generate an
unobserved measurement outcome, may be calculated or generated by
the computer. Additionally, or alternatively, a probability that a
series of empirical measurements on the candidate protein would
generate an outcome set may be calculated or generated, by the
computer.
[0095] "Outcome set," as used herein, refers to a plurality of
independent measurement outcomes for a protein. For example, a
series of empirical affinity reagent binding measurements may be
performed on a unknown protein. The binding measurement of each
individual affinity reagent comprises a measurement outcome, and
the set of all measurement outcomes is the outcome set. In some
cases, the outcome set may be a subset of all observed outcomes. In
some cases, the outcome set may consist of measurement outcomes
that were not empirically observed. Additionally or alternatively,
for each of one or more candidate proteins in the plurality of
candidate proteins, a probability that the unknown protein is the
candidate protein, may be calculated or generated, by the computer.
The calculation or generation of steps 115 and/or 120 may be
performed iteratively or non-iteratively. The probabilities in step
115 may be generated based on the comparison of the empirical
measurement outcomes of the unknown proteins against the database
comprising the plurality of protein sequences for all candidate
proteins. Thus, the input to the algorithm may comprise a database
of candidate protein sequences and a set of empirical measurements
(e.g., probes that are believed to have bound to an unknown
protein, length of the unknown protein, hydrophobicity of the
unknown protein, and/or isoelectric point of the unknown protein)
for the unknown protein. In some cases, the input to the algorithm
may comprise parameters relevant to estimating the probability of
any of the affinity reagents generating any binding measurement for
any of the candidate proteins (e.g. trimer-level binding
probabilities for each affinity reagent). The output of the
algorithm may comprise (i) a probability that a measurement outcome
or outcome set is observed given a hypothesized candidate protein
identity, (ii) the most probable identity, selected from the set of
candidate proteins, for the unknown protein and the probability of
that identification being correct given a measurement outcome or
outcome set (e.g., in step 120), and/or (iii) a group of
high-probability candidate protein identities and an associated
probability that the unknown protein is one of the proteins in the
group. The probability that the measurement outcome is observed
given that a candidate protein is the protein being measured may be
expressed as:
P(measurement outcome|protein).
[0096] In some embodiments, P(measurement outcome|protein) is
calculated completely in silico. In some embodiments, P(measurement
outcome|protein) is calculated based on, or derived from, features
of the amino acid sequence of the protein. In some embodiments,
P(measurement outcome|protein) is calculated independent of
knowledge of the amino acid sequence of the protein. For example,
P(measurement outcome|protein) may be determined empirically by
acquiring the measurement in replicate experiments on an isolate of
the protein candidate, and calculating the P(measurement
outcome|protein) from the frequency: (number of measurements with
outcome/total number of measurements). In some embodiments,
P(measurement outcome|protein) is derived from a database of past
measurements on the protein. In some embodiments P(measurement
outcome|protein) is calculated by generating a set of confident
protein identifications from a collection of unknown proteins with
the results of the measurement censored, and then calculating the
frequency of the measurement outcome among the set of unknown
proteins that were confidently identified as the candidate protein.
In some embodiments, a collection of unknown proteins may be
identified using a seed value of P(measurement outcome|protein),
and the seed value refined based on the frequency of the
measurement outcome among unknown proteins confidently matched to
the candidate protein. In some embodiments, this process is
repeated, with new identifications generated based on updated
measurement outcome probabilities, and then new measurement outcome
probabilities generated from the updated set of confident
identifications.
[0097] The probability that the measurement outcome is not observed
given that a candidate protein is the protein being measured, may
be expressed as:
P(not measurement outcome|protein)=1-P(measurement
outcome|protein).
[0098] The probability that a measurement outcome set consisting of
N individual measurement outcomes is observed given that a
candidate protein is the protein being measured, may be expressed
as a product of the probabilities for each individual measurement
outcome:
P(outcome set|protein)=P(measurement
outcome1|protein)*P(measurement outcome2|protein)* . . .
*P(measurement outcomeN|protein)
[0099] The probability of the unknown protein being a candidate
protein (protein.sub.i), may be calculated based on the probability
of the outcome set for each possible candidate protein.
[0100] In some embodiments, the measurement outcome set comprises
binding of affinity reagent probes. In some embodiments, the
measurement outcome set comprises non-specific binding of affinity
reagent probes.
[0101] In some embodiments, the protein in the sample is truncated
or degraded. In some embodiments, the protein in the sample does
not contain the C-terminus of the original protein. In some
embodiments, the protein in the sample does not contain the
N-terminus of the original protein. In some embodiments, the
protein in the sample does not contain the N-terminus and does not
contain the C-terminus of the original protein.
[0102] In some embodiments, the empirical measurements comprise
measurements performed on mixtures of antibodies. In some
embodiments, the empirical measurements comprise measurements
performed on samples containing proteins from a plurality of
species. In some embodiments, the empirical measurements comprise
measurements performed on a sample derived from humans. In some
embodiments, the empirical measurements comprise measurements
performed on a sample derived from a different species than human.
In some embodiments, the empirical measurements comprise
measurements performed on samples in the presence of single amino
acid variants (SAVs) caused by non-synonymous single-nucleotide
polymorphisms (SNPs). In some embodiments, the empirical
measurements comprise measurements on samples in the presence of
genomic structural variation, such as insertions, deletions,
translocations, inversions, segmental duplications, or copy number
variation (CNV) affecting the sequence of the proteins in the
sample.
[0103] In some embodiments, the method further comprises applying
the method to all unknown proteins measured in the sample. In some
embodiments, the method further comprises generating, for each of
the one or more candidate proteins, a confidence level that the
candidate protein matches the unknown protein being measured in the
sample. The confidence level may comprise a probability value.
Alternatively, the confidence level may comprise a probability
value with an error. Alternatively, the confidence level may
comprise a range of probability values, optionally with a
confidence (e.g., about 90%, about 95%, about 96%, about 97%, about
98%, about 99%, about 99.9%, about 99.99%, about 99.999%, about
99.9999%, about 99.99999%, about 99.999999%, about 99.9999999%,
about 99.99999999%, about 99.9999999999%, about 99.9999999999%,
about 99.99999999999%, about 99.999999999999%, about
99.9999999999999% confidence, or above 99.9999999999999%
confidence).
[0104] In some embodiments, the method further comprises generating
a probability that a candidate protein is present in the
sample.
[0105] In some embodiments, the method further comprises generating
protein identifications, and associated probabilities,
independently for each unknown protein in the sample, and
generating a list of all unique proteins identified in the sample.
In some embodiments, the method further comprises counting the
number of identifications generated for each unique candidate
protein to determine the quantity of each candidate protein in the
sample. In some embodiments, a collection of protein
identifications and associated probabilities may be filtered to
only contain identifications of a high score, high confidence,
and/or low false discovery rate.
[0106] In some embodiments, binding probabilities may be generated
for affinity reagents to full-length candidate proteins. In some
embodiments, binding probabilities may be generated for affinity
reagents to protein fragments (e.g., a subsequence of the complete
protein sequence). For example, if unknown proteins were processed
and conjugated to the substrate in a manner such that only the
first 100 amino acids of each unknown protein were conjugated,
binding probabilities may be generated for each protein candidate
such that all binding probabilities for epitope binding beyond the
first 100 amino acids are set to zero, or alternatively to a very
low probability representing an error rate. A similar approach may
be used if the first 10, 20, 50, 100, 150, 200, 300, 400, or more
than 400 amino acids of each protein are conjugated to the
substrate. A similar approach may be used if the last 10, 20, 50,
100, 150, 200, 300, 400, or more than 400 amino acids are
conjugated to the substrate.
[0107] In some embodiments, in cases where a single protein
candidate match cannot be assigned to an unknown protein, a group
of potential protein candidate matches may be assigned to the
unknown protein. A confidence level may be assigned to the unknown
protein being one of any of the protein candidates in the group.
The confidence level may comprise a probability value.
Alternatively, the confidence level may comprise a probability
value with an error. Alternatively, the confidence level may
comprise a range of probability values, optionally with a
confidence (e.g., about 90%, about 95%, about 96%, about 97%, about
98%, about 99%, about 99.9%, about 99.99%, about 99.999%, about
99.9999%, about 99.99999%, about 99.999999%, about 99.9999999%,
about 99.99999999%, about 99.999999999%, about 99.9999999999%,
about 99.99999999999%, about 99.999999999999%, about
99.9999999999999% confidence, or above 99.9999999999999%
confidence). For example, an unknown protein may match strongly
with two protein candidates. The two protein candidates may have
high sequence similarity to each other (e.g., two protein isoforms,
such as proteins with single amino acid variants compared to a
canonical sequence). In these cases, no individual protein
candidate may be assigned with high confidence, but a high
confidence may be ascribed to the unknown protein matching to a
single, but unknown, member of the "protein group" comprising the
two strongly matching protein candidates.
[0108] In some embodiments, efforts may be made to detect cases
where unknown proteins are not optically-resolved. For example, on
rare occasion, two or more proteins may bind in the same "well" or
location of a substrate despite efforts to prevent this occurrence.
In some cases, the conjugated proteins may be treated with a
non-specific dye and the signal from the dye measured. In cases
where two or more proteins are not optically-resolved, the signal
resulting from the dye may be higher than locations containing a
single protein and may be used to flag locations with multiple
bound proteins.
[0109] In some embodiments, the plurality of candidate proteins is
generated or modified by sequencing or analyzing the DNA or RNA of
the human or organism from which the sample of unknown proteins is
obtained or derived.
[0110] In some embodiments, the method further comprises deriving
information on post-translational modifications of the unknown
protein. The information on post-translational modifications may
comprise the presence of a post-translational modification without
knowledge of the nature of the specific modification. The database
may be considered to be an exponential product of PTMs. For
example, once a protein candidate sequence has been assigned to an
unknown protein, the pattern of affinity reagent binding for the
assayed protein may be compared to a database containing binding
measurements for the affinity reagents to the same candidate from
previous experiments. For example, a database of binding
measurements may be derived from binding to a Nucleic Acid
Programmable Protein Array (NAPPA) containing unmodified proteins
of known sequence at known locations.
[0111] Additionally or alternatively, a database of binding
measurements may be derived from previous experiments in which
protein candidate sequences were confidently assigned to unknown
proteins. Discrepancies in binding measurements between the assayed
protein and the database of existing measurements may provide
information on the likelihood of post-translation modification. For
example, if an affinity agent has a high frequency of binding to
the candidate protein in the database, but does not bind the
assayed protein, there is a higher likelihood of a
post-translational modification being present somewhere on the
protein. If the binding epitope is known for the affinity reagent
for which there is a binding discrepancy, the location of the post
translational modification may be localized to at or near the
binding epitope of the affinity reagent. In some embodiments,
information on specific post-translational modifications may be
derived by performing repeated affinity reagent measurements before
and after treatment of the protein-substrate conjugate with an
enzyme that specifically removes the particular post translational
modification. For example, binding measurements may be acquired for
a sequence of affinity reagents prior to treatment of the substrate
with a phosphatase, and then repeated after treatment with a
phosphatase. Affinity reagents which bind an unknown protein prior
to phosphatase treatment but not after phosphatase treatment
(differential binding) may provide evidence of phosphorylation. If
the epitope recognized by the differentially binding affinity
reagent is known, the phosphorylation may be localized to at or
near the binding epitope for the affinity reagent.
[0112] In some cases, the count of a particular post-translational
modification may be determined using binding measurements with an
affinity reagent against a particular post-translational
modification. For example, an antibody that recognizes
phosphorylation events may be used as an affinity reagent. The
binding of this reagent may indicate the presence of at least one
phosphorylation on the unknown protein. In some cases, the number
of discrete post-translational modifications of a particular type
on an unknown protein may be determined by counting the number of
binding events measured for an affinity reagent specific to the
particular post-translational modification. For example, a
phosphorylation specific antibody may be conjugated to a
fluorescent reporter. In this case, the intensity of the
fluorescent signal may be used to determine the number of
phosphorylation-specific affinity reagents bound to an unknown
protein. The number of phosphorylation-specific affinity reagents
bound to the unknown protein may in turn be used to determine the
number of phosphorylation sites on the unknown protein. In some
embodiments, evidence from affinity reagent binding experiments may
be combined with pre-existing knowledge of amino acid sequence
motifs or specific protein locations likely to be
post-translationally modified (e.g., from dbPTM, PhosphoSitePlus,
or UniProt) to derive more accurate count, identification, or
localization of post-translational modification. For example, if
the location of a post-translational modification is not exactly
determined from affinity measurements alone, a location containing
an amino acid sequence motif frequently associated with the post
translational modification of interest may be favored.
[0113] In some embodiments, the probabilities are iteratively
generated until a predetermined condition is satisfied. In some
embodiments, the predetermined condition comprises generating each
of the plurality of probabilities with a confidence of at least
50%, at least 55%, at least 60%, at least 65%, at least 70%, at
least 75%, at least 80%, at least 85%, at least 90%, at least 91%,
at least 92%, at least 93%, at least 94%, at least 95%, at least
96%, at least 97%, at least 98%, at least 99%, at least 99.9%, at
least 99.99%, at least 99.999%, at least 99.9999%, at least
99.99999%, at least 99.999999%, at least 99.9999999%, at least
99.999999999%, at least 99.999999999%, at least 99.9999999999%, at
least 99.99999999999%, at least 99.999999999999%, at least
99.9999999999999% confidence, or above 99.9999999999999%
confidence.
[0114] In some embodiments, the method further comprises generating
a paper or electronic report identifying one or more unknown
proteins in the sample. The paper or electronic report may further
indicate, for each of the candidate proteins, a confidence level
for the candidate protein being present in the sample. The
confidence level may comprise a probability value. Alternatively,
the confidence level may comprise a probability value with an
error. Alternatively, the confidence level may comprise a range of
probability values, optionally with a confidence (e.g., about 90%,
about 95%, about 96%, about 97%, about 98%, about 99%, about 99.9%,
about 99.99%, about 99.999%, about 99.9999%, about 99.99999%, about
99.999999%, about 99.9999999%, about 99.99999999%, about
99.999999999%, about 99.9999999999%, about 99.99999999999%, about
99.999999999999%, about 99.9999999999999% confidence, or above
99.9999999999999% confidence). The paper or electronic report may
further indicate the list of protein candidates identified below an
expected false discovery rate threshold (e.g., a false discovery
rate below 10%, 9%, 8%, 7%, 6%, 5%, 4%, 3%, 2%, 1%, 0.5%, 0.4%,
0.3%, 0.2%, or 0.1%). The false discovery rate may be estimated by
first sorting the protein identifications in descending order of
confidence. The estimated false discovery rate at any point in the
sorted list may then be calculated as 1-avg_c_prob, where
avg_c_prob is the average candidate probability for all proteins at
or before (e.g., higher confidence than) the current point in the
list. A list of protein identifications below a desired false
discovery rate threshold may then be generated by returning all
protein identifications before the earliest point in the sorted
list where the false discovery rate is higher than the threshold.
Alternatively, a list of protein identifications below a desired
false discovery rate threshold may be generated by returning all
proteins before, and including, the latest point in the sorted list
where the false discovery rate is below or equal to the desired
threshold.
[0115] In some embodiments, the sample comprises a biological
sample. The biological sample may be obtained from a subject. In
some embodiments, the method further comprises identifying a
disease state or a disorder in the subject based at least on the
plurality of probabilities. In some embodiments, the method further
comprises quantifying proteins by counting the number of
identifications generated for each protein candidate. For example,
the absolute quantity (e.g., number of protein molecules) of a
protein present in the sample can be calculated by counting the
number of confident identifications generated from that protein
candidate. In some embodiments, the quantity may be calculated as a
percentage of the total number of unknown proteins assayed. In some
embodiments, the raw identification counts may be calibrated to
remove systematic error from the instrument and detection systems.
In some embodiments, the quantity may be calibrated to remove
biases in quantity caused by variation in detectability of protein
candidates. Protein detectability may be assessed from empirical
measurements or computer simulation.
[0116] The disease or disorder may be an infectious disease, an
immune disorder or disease, a cancer, a genetic disease, a
degenerative disease, a lifestyle disease, an injury, a rare
disease or an age related disease. The infectious disease may be
caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi and/or parasites. Non-limiting
examples of cancers include Bladder cancer, Lung cancer, Brain
cancer, Melanoma, Breast cancer, Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, Cervical
cancer, Ovarian cancer, Colorectal cancer, Pancreatic cancer,
Esophageal cancer, Prostate cancer, Kidney cancer, Skin cancer,
Leukemia, Thyroid cancer, Liver cancer, and Uterine cancer. Some
examples of genetic diseases or disorders include, but are not
limited to, multiple sclerosis (MS), cystic fibrosis,
Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, Huntington's disease, Peutz-Jeghers
syndrome, Down syndrome, Rheumatoid arthritis, and Tay-Sachs
disease. Non-limiting examples of lifestyle diseases include
obesity, diabetes, arteriosclerosis, heart disease, stroke,
hypertension, liver cirrhosis, nephritis, cancer, chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease (copd), hearing problems, and chronic
backache. Some examples of injuries include, but are not limited
to, abrasion, brain injuries, bruising, burns, concussions,
congestive heart failure, construction injuries, dislocation, flail
chest, fracture, hemothorax, herniated disc, hip pointer,
hypothermia, lacerations, pinched nerve, pneumothorax, rib
fracture, sciatica, spinal cord injury, tendons ligaments fascia
injury, traumatic brain injury, and whiplash.
[0117] In some embodiments, the method comprises identifying and
quantifying small molecules (e.g. metabolites) or glycans instead
of, or in addition to, proteins. For example, affinity reagents,
such as lectins or antibodies which bind to sugars or combinations
of sugars with varying propensity, may be used to identify glycans.
The propensity of the affinity reagents to bind various sugars or
combinations of sugars may be characterized by analyzing binding to
a commercially-available glycan array. For example, unknown glycans
may be conjugated to a functionalized substrate using
hydroxyl-reactive chemistry and binding measurements may be
acquired using the glycan-binding affinity reagents. The binding
measurements of the affinity reagents to the unknown glycans on the
substrate may be used directly to quantify the number of glycans
with a particular sugar or combination of sugars. Alternatively,
one or more binding measurements may be compared to predicted
binding measurements from a database of candidate glycan structures
using the methods described herein to identify the structure of
each unknown glycan. In some embodiments, proteins are bound to the
substrate and binding measurements with glycan affinity reagents
are generated to identify glycans attached to the proteins.
Further, binding measurements may be made with both glycan and
protein affinity reagents to generate protein backbone sequence and
conjugated glycan identifications in a single experiment. As
another example, metabolites may be conjugated to a functionalized
substrate using chemistry targeted toward coupling groups commonly
found in metabolites such as sulfhydryl, carbonyl, amine, or active
hydrogen. Binding measurements may be made using affinity reagents
with different propensities to particular functional groups,
structural motifs, or metabolites. The resulting binding
measurements may be compared to predicted binding measurements for
a database of candidate small molecules, and the methods described
herein may be used to identify the metabolite at each location on
the substrate.
Example 1: Protein Identification by Affinity Reagent Binding
[0118] The methods described herein may be used in combination with
affinity binding reagents (e.g., aptamers or antibodies) binding
measurements to analyze and/or identify proteins in a sample. In
this case, the measurement outcome probability to be calculated is
the probability of a binding or non-binding event of an affinity
binding reagent (e.g., affinity reagent or affinity probe) to a
protein candidate. A binding probability may be modeled as being
conditional on the presence of an epitope which is recognized by
the affinity binding reagent being present in the sequence of the
protein. For example, an epitope may be a "trimer" (a sequence of
three amino acids). An affinity reagent may be designed to target a
particular epitope (e.g., GAV). Off-target binding of an affinity
reagent (e.g., binding of an affinity reagent to an epitope
different from its target epitope) may be modeled by including a
non-zero probability of binding to additional epitopes.
[0119] For example, an affinity reagent may be designed to bind the
GAV trimer, but may have off-target binding to three additional
recognition sites: CLD, TYL, and IAD. For this affinity reagent,
the binding probability can be modeled as:
P(affinity probe binding|protein)={0.25, if GAV,CLD,TYL, or IAD is
present in the protein sequence; 0, otherwise}.
[0120] There may also be a small probability of the affinity
reagent binding non-specifically to a protein, which can be
expressed as:
P(affinity probe binding|protein)={0.25, if GAV,CLD,TYL, or IAD is
present in the protein sequence; 0.00001, otherwise}.
[0121] Here, the probability measures the outcome of the detection
of antibody binding.
[0122] As an example, consider a case where proteins from a
human-derived sample are analyzed. The proteins in the sample are
assumed to be represented in the human "reference" proteome (for
example, as found in the Uniprot database of canonical protein
sequence and functional information). That is, the protein
candidate list is the set of about 21 thousand proteins and
associated sequences in the UniProt database. A collection of
unknown proteins are derived from the sample, and each unknown
protein is probed in a series of affinity reagent binding
experiments with the outcome (binding or no binding) measured and
recorded. For example, such experiments may comprise sequentially
adding different affinity reagents and observing the binding of the
affinity reagents to the unknown proteins. The affinity reagents,
or "probes," are selected to target the most frequently observed
trimers (out of about 800 possible trimers) in the protein
candidate list. Outside of the targeted trimer, each probe has
off-target binding to a number of additional trimers which are
selected at random. The probability of a probe binding to a protein
sequence can be expressed as:
P(affinity probe binding|protein)=1-[P(no non-specific
binding)*P(no specific binding)].
[0123] Assuming that:
n=sequence length of a protein candidate; q=length of a recognition
site (e.g., 3); s=non-specific trimer binding probability (e.g.,
10.sup.-5); p=specific binding probability (e.g., 0.25); the terms
P(no non-specific binding) and P(no specific binding) can be
expressed as:
P(no non-specific
binding)=(1-s).sup.n-q+1=(1-10.sup.-5).sup.n-3+1
and P(no specific binding)=.PI..sub.for each recognition
site(1-p).sup.number of site occurrences in protein.
[0124] Finally, the probability of a probe not binding to a protein
can be expressed as:
P(affinity probe not binding|protein)=1-P(affinity probe
binding|protein).
[0125] FIG. 2 illustrates the sensitivity of affinity reagent
probes (e.g., the percent of substrates identified with a false
detection rate (FDR) of less than 1%) plotted against the number of
probe recognition sites (e.g., trimer-binding epitopes) in the
affinity reagent probe (ranging up to 100 probe recognition sites
or trimer-binding epitopes), for three different experimental cases
(with 50, 100, and 200 probes used, as denoted by the gray, black,
and white circles, respectively). As seen in FIG. 2, the number of
probes used has a significant effect on the ability to correctly
identify proteins. Plotted on the y-axis is the sensitivity, which
is the percentage of the unknown proteins that are correctly
identified with a threshold (e.g., upper limit) of less than 1% of
the identifications being incorrect. For example, if each probe
contains 5 recognition sites or trimer-binding epitopes (1 targeted
site and 4 off-target sites), the sensitivity of protein
identification is less than 10% when 50 probes are used, about 60%
when 100 probes are used, and about 90% when 200 probes are used.
In fact, when 300 probes are used, the sensitivity exceeds 95%
(result not shown on plot). This protein identification approach
supports probes with many off-target binding sites. Even with 60
recognition sites or trimer-binding epitopes (1 targeted site and
59 off-target sites), identification sensitivity is about 55% in a
100-probe experiment and about 90% in a 200-probe experiment.
[0126] However, as seen in FIG. 3, the ability to identify proteins
degrades rapidly when probes have more than 100 binding sites or
trimer-binding epitopes. FIG. 3 illustrates the sensitivity of
affinity reagent probes (e.g., the percent of substrates identified
with a false detection rate (FDR) of less than 1%) plotted against
the number of probe recognition sites (e.g., trimer-binding
epitopes) in the affinity reagent probe (ranging up to 700 probe
recognition sites or trimer-binding epitopes) for three different
experimental cases (with 50, 100, and 200 probes used, as denoted
by the gray, black, and white circles, respectively). For example,
if each probe contains 100 recognition sites or trimer-binding
epitopes (1 targeted site, 99 off-target sites), the sensitivity of
protein identification is about 1% when 50 probes are used, about
30% when 100 probes are used, and about 70% when 200 probes are
used. However, if each probe contains 200 recognition sites or
trimer-binding epitopes (1 targeted site, 199 off-target sites),
the sensitivity of protein identification is less than 1% when 50
probes are used, less than 20% when 100 probes are used, and less
than 40% when 200 probes are used.
Example 2: Protein Affinity Reagent Binding to Proteins that have
been Truncated or Degraded
[0127] The methods described herein may be applied to analyze
and/or identify proteins in a sample that have been truncated. In
such experiments, probability calculation of an affinity probe
binding to a protein is modified to only consider binding to the
truncated protein sequence, rather than the full protein sequence.
For example, FIG. 4 illustrates plots showing the sensitivity of
protein identification with experiments using 100 (left), 200
(center), or 300 probes (right). In each plot, sensitivity of
affinity reagent probes (e.g., the percent of substrates identified
with a false detection rate (FDR) of less than 1%) is determined
for an experiment in which 4 substrates lengths are measured: (1)
the intact (full) protein, (2) the 50-length N- or C-terminal
fragment of the protein, (3) the 100-length N- or C-terminal
fragment of the protein, and (4) the 200-length N- or C-terminal
fragment of the protein. N- and C-terminal fragments are denoted
with solid and striped bars, respectively. Each probe binds to the
targeted trimer and 4 other random off-target trimers. As shown in
FIG. 4, a substantial proportion of proteins (.about.40%) may be
identified, for example, even when proteins are truncated to
fragments containing only 100 amino acids and 200-probe experiments
are performed.
[0128] If 300 probes are used, then about 70-75% of proteins may be
identified in the case when proteins are truncated to fragments
containing only 100 amino acids. FIG. 4 also shows that truncated
proteins containing the N-terminal fragment are slightly easier to
identify (e.g., with higher sensitivity of protein identification)
than fragments containing the C-terminal fragment.
Example 3: Protein Fragments Containing Neither the C-Terminus Nor
the N-Terminus of the Intact Protein from which they are
Derived
[0129] The methods described herein may be applied to analyze
and/or identify protein fragments in a sample that contain neither
of the original 2 termini of the intact protein from which the
fragment is derived. The probability calculation of an affinity
probe binding to a protein in such an experiment is modified to
only consider binding to the truncated rather than the full protein
sequence. FIG. 5 illustrates plots showing the sensitivity of
protein identification with experiments using various protein
fragmentation approaches. In each of the top row and the bottom
row, protein identification performance is shown with 50, 100, 200,
and 300 affinity reagent measurements (in the 4 panels from left to
right), with maximum fragment length values of 50, 100, 200, 300,
400, and 500 (as denoted by the hexagons, down-pointing triangles,
up-pointing triangles, diamonds, rectangles, and circles,
respectively).
[0130] Referring to the top row of FIG. 5, each point on each
subplot represents sensitivity (protein identification rate) when
using a particular fragment generation approach defined by the
fragment start location and fragment length. Fragments are
generated at a specific starting location on each protein indexed
by distance (e.g., number of amino acids (AA) away) from the
N-terminus in amino acids (as plotted on the x-axis). The end of
each protein fragment is selected to generate a fragment with
length 50, 100, 200, 300, 400, or 500 amino acids (maximum fragment
length, or max_fragment_length values), as denoted by the hexagons,
down-pointing triangles, up-pointing triangles, diamonds,
rectangles, and circles, respectively. If a fragment of a given
designated length cannot be generated because the protein is too
short, the fragment shorter than the requested length containing
the C-terminus is retained. For example, when an experiment is
performed with 50 affinity reagents, only a small percentage of
proteins may be identified (as plotted on the y-axis). However,
when an experiment is performed with 200 affinity reagent probes
using fragments with a maximum length of 200 amino acids, about 50%
to about 85% of proteins may be identified (as plotted on the
y-axis) depending on the fragment start site (as plotted on the
x-axis). There is a general trend of decrease in protein
identification sensitivity as the fragment start site moves further
away from the N-terminus. This trend can be explained by the fact
that, as the fragment start moves farther from the N-terminus, more
fragments are generated that include the C-terminus and are less
than the maximum fragment length.
[0131] Referring to the bottom row of FIG. 5, the 4 subplots here
show similar results as those in the top row, except that any
fragments which do not match the maximum fragment length (e.g.,
fragments not containing the C-terminus) are discarded from
analysis prior to the sensitivity and false discovery rate
calculation. The sensitivity of protein identification is
calculated only among those proteins that may have generated a
valid fragment. As the bottom row of FIG. 5 shows, without the
fragment length fixed, at the maximum fragment length, there is no
statistically significant variation in protein identification
sensitivity with respect to the location of the fragment start
site. Fragment length is the major determinant of protein
identification rate rather than the fragment location within the
protein sequence.
Example 4: Protein Identification by Measurement of Length,
Hydrophobicity, and/or Isoelectric Point
[0132] The methods described herein may be applied to analyze
and/or identify proteins in a sample using information from
measurements on the proteins, including length, hydrophobicity,
and/or isoelectric point (pI). The probability of measuring a
particular length for a protein query candidate can be expressed
by:
P ( measurement outcome|protein ) = 1 .sigma. 2 .pi. exp ( - u 2 2
) where ##EQU00001##
.sigma.=|CV*expected outcome value| u=(measured outcome
value-expected outcome value)/.sigma.
[0133] In this case, the measurement outcome is the measured length
of the unknown protein, and the expected outcome value is the
length of the protein query candidate. The model also uses a
coefficient of variation (CV) value which describes the expected
precision of the measurement approach. The probability of measuring
a particular hydrophobicity for a protein is calculated using the
same formula, with the expected outcome value being set to a grand
average of hydropathy (gravy) score calculated from the protein
candidate sequence. Such a gravy score can be calculated, for
example, using a Biopython tool for computational molecular biology
to perform a Kyte-Doolittle computational method (e.g., as
described in [Kyte et al., "A simple method for displaying the
hydropathic character of a protein," J. Mol. Biol., 1982 May 5;
157(1):105-32], which is incorporated herein by reference in its
entirety). Similarly, isoelectric point (pI) is modeled with an
expected pI value calculated from the protein candidate sequence
using Biopython to implement the methods of Bjellqvist (e.g., as
described in [Audain et al., "Accurate estimation of isoelectric
point of protein and peptide based on amino acid sequences,"
Bioinformatics, 2015 Nov. 14; 32(6):821-27], which is incorporated
herein by reference in its entirety), according to the methods
described in [Tabb, David L., "An algorithm for isoelectric point
estimation,"<http://fields.scripps.edu/DTASelect/20010710-pI-Algorithm-
.pdf>, 2003 Jun. 28], which is incorporated herein by reference
in its entirety. In all cases, the experimental measurement
precision was set to a CV value of 0.1.
[0134] FIG. 6 illustrates plots showing the sensitivity of
identification of human proteins (percent of substrates identified
at an FDR of less than 1%) with experiments using various
combinations of types of measurements. Using protein length,
hydrophobicity, or pI measurements alone, virtually no proteins can
be identified (e.g., a sensitivity<1%). Combining all three
types of measurements (len+hydro+pI) still yields virtually no
identifications. However, protein length, hydrophobicity, or pI
measurements may be used to augment measurements from affinity
reagent probe binding experiments. For example, proteins may be
fractionated based on any of these characteristics, and each
fraction conjugated to a different spatial location on the
substrate. Following this fractionation and conjugation, affinity
reagent binding measurements may be made, and the measurement of
hydrophobicity, protein length, or pI may be determined by the
spatial address of the protein. Denatured proteins may be
fractionated by molecular weight based on gel filtration (SDS-PAGE)
or size exclusion chromatography. The length of proteins may be
estimated from the molecular weight by dividing the weight by the
average mass of an amino acid (111 Da). Proteins may be
fractionated by hydrophobicity using hydrophobic interaction
chromatography. Proteins may be fractionated by pI using ion
exchange chromatography. For example, performing additional
measurements of protein length by fractionation with a CV value of
0.1 improved sensitivity of identification using 100-probe (1
targeted trimer, and 4 additional off-target sites per probe)
experiments from .about.55% (without protein length measurements)
to .about.65% (with protein length measurements). Similarly,
performing additional measurements of protein length with a CV
value of 0.1 improved sensitivity of identification using 200-probe
(1 targeted trimer, and 4 additional off-target sites per probe)
experiments from .about.90% (without protein length measurements)
to .about.95% (with protein length measurements).
Example 5: Protein Identification by Measurement with Mixtures of
Antibodies
[0135] The methods described herein may be applied to analyze
and/or identify proteins in a sample using information from
experiments in which mixtures of affinity reagents are measured in
each binding experiment. Consistent with disclosed embodiments, the
identification of 1,000 unknown human proteins was benchmarked by
acquiring binding measurements using pools of
commercially-available antibodies from Santa Cruz Biotechnology,
Inc. The 1,000 proteins were randomly selected from the Uniprot
protein database, which comprises about 21,005 proteins. A list of
monoclonal antibodies available from the Santa Cruz Biotechnology
catalog with reactivity against human proteins was downloaded from
an online antibody registry. The list contained 22,301 antibodies
and was filtered to a list of 14,566 antibodies which matched to
proteins in the Uniprot human protein database. The complete
collection of antibodies modeled in the experiment comprised these
14,566 antibodies. Experimental assessment of binding of antibody
mixtures to the 1,000 unknown protein candidates was performed as
described below.
[0136] First, 50 mixtures of antibodies were modeled. To produce
any single mixture, 5,000 antibodies from the total collection of
antibodies were selected at random.
[0137] Next, for each mixture, a binding probability was determined
for the mixture to any of the unknown proteins. Note that, although
the proteins are "unknown" in the sense that the goal is to infer
their identity, the algorithm is aware of the true identity of each
"unknown protein." If the mixture contains an antibody against the
unknown protein, a binding probability of 0.99 was assigned. If the
mixture does not contain an antibody against the unknown protein, a
binding probability of 0.0488 was assigned. In other words, the
probability of a binding outcome for the mixture of antibodies was
modeled as:
P(binding outcome|protein)={0.99, if mixture contains an antibody
to the protein; 0.0488, otherwise}.
[0138] The value of 0.0488 represents the probability of a
non-specific (off-target) binding event occurring for this mixture
against the protein. The non-specific binding probability for a
mixture was modeled based on the expected probability of any
individual antibody binding a protein other than its target, and
the number of proteins in the mixture. The probability of a
non-specific binding event for the mixture of antibodies is the
probability of any single antibody in the mixture binding
non-specifically. This probability is calculated based on the
number of antibodies in the mixture (n), and the probability of
non-specific binding (p) for any single antibody, and can be
expressed by the equation:
Mixture non-specific binding probability=1-(1-p).sup.n
[0139] In this case, it was assumed that there is a probability of
0.00001 (10.sup.-5) of a non-specific binding event where an
individual antibody binding something other than its target
protein. Therefore, the non-specific binding probability (p) for
any single antibody is 10.sup.-5, giving: Mixture non-specific
binding probability=1-(1-10.sup.-5).sup.5000=0.0488.
[0140] In addition, the probability of a non-binding outcome to a
protein was calculated as:
P(non-binding outcome|protein)=1-P(binding outcome|protein).
[0141] For each unknown protein, binding was assessed for each
antibody mixture measured based on the binding probability of the
mixture to the unknown protein. The uniform distribution, with a
minimum of 0 and a maximum of 1, was randomly sampled, and if the
resulting number is less than the binding probability of the
antibody mixture to the unknown protein, the experiment resulted in
a binding event for that mixture. Otherwise, the experiment
resulted in a non-binding event for that mixture. With all binding
events assessed, protein inference is performed as follows:
[0142] For each unknown protein, the sequence of assessed binding
events (50 total, 1 per mixture) was evaluated against each of the
21,005 protein candidates in the Uniprot database. More
specifically, a probability of observing the sequence of binding
events was calculated for each candidate. The probability was
calculated by multiplying the probability of each individual
mixture binding/non-binding event across all 50 mixtures measured.
The binding probability was calculated in the same manner as
described above, and the probability of non-binding is one minus
the binding probability. The protein query candidate with the
highest binding probability is the inferred identity for the
unknown protein. A probability of the identification being correct
for that individual protein was calculated as the probability of
the top individual candidate divided by the summed probabilities of
all candidates.
[0143] With the identity inferred for each of the 1,000 unknown
proteins, the unknown proteins were sorted in descending order of
their identification probability. An identification probability
cutoff was selected such that the percentage of incorrect
identifications among all identifications prior in the list was 1%.
Overall, 551 of the 1,000 unknown proteins were identified with a
1% incorrect identification rate. Therefore, protein identification
was performed with a sensitivity of 55.1%.
Example 6: Protein Identification in Many Species
[0144] The methods described herein may be applied to analyze
and/or identify proteins in a sample obtained from many different
species. For example, results from sequence of affinity reagent
binding experiments may be used to identify proteins in E. coli,
Saccharomyces cerevisiae (yeast), or Homo sapiens (humans), as
denoted by the circles, triangles, and squares, respectively. To
adapt analytical methods for each species, the protein candidate
list must be generated from a species-specific sequence database,
such as a reference proteome for the species downloaded from
Uniprot.
[0145] FIG. 7 illustrates plots showing the sensitivity of protein
identification with experiments using 50, 100, 200, or 300 affinity
reagent probe passes against unknown proteins from either E. coli,
yeast, or human (as denoted by the circles, triangles, and squares,
respectively). Each probe binds to a targeted trimer, and 4
additional off-target sites with probability of 0.25. The
sensitivity (percentage of unknown proteins identified at a false
identification rate of less than 1%) for an experiment using 200
probes was about 90% for each of the three species tested.
Example 7: Protein Identification in the Presence of SNPs
[0146] The methods described herein may be applied to analyze
and/or identify proteins in a sample in the presence of single
amino acid variants (SAVs) caused by non-synonymous
single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Proteins that have the same
sequence except for a handful of single amino acid variants (SAVs)
may be difficult to distinguish. For example, in an experiment
using a series of affinity reagent measurements, the canonical form
of a protein may be nearly impossible to distinguish from its
variant form, unless an affinity reagent which is highly-selective
for the polymorphic region of the protein is included in the
experiment. In cases where the polymorphic region is not
distinguished by any of the affinity reagent measurements,
measurements of either protein form will return similar
probabilities (likelihoods) for both the canonical and variant
protein query candidate (e.g., L (canonical protein|evidence)=0.8
and L (variant protein|evidence)=0.8).
[0147] In such a case, neither individual protein candidate may
return a probability higher than 0.5, e.g., as expressed for the
canonical protein below (where cprot=canonical protein,
vprot=variant protein):
Pr ( cprot |evidence ) = L ( cprot |evidence ) L ( cprot |evidence
) + L ( vprot |evidence ) + L other = 0.8 1.6 + L other .ltoreq.
0.5 ##EQU00002##
where L.sub.other is the summed likelihood of all protein query
candidates except the canonical protein and the variant protein and
is a number greater than or equal to zero.
[0148] In this case, groups of potential protein identifications
may be returned for an unknown protein. For example, the
probability for the top two most likely protein query candidates
may be expressed as:
Pr ( cprot or vprot |evidence ) = L ( cprot |evidence ) + L ( vprot
|evidence ) L ( cprot |evidence ) + L ( v |evidence ) + L other =
0.8 1.6 + L other ##EQU00003##
Using this approach, a confident identification may be derived from
the unknown protein, albeit one that does not resolve the canonical
protein and the variant protein. In particular, cases where
L.sub.other is near zero may be likely to result in a confident
identification.
Example 8: Iterative Improvement of Probability Model from
Empirical Results
[0149] A probabilistic model used in one or more methods described
herein may be improved iteratively using empirical measurements
during the computation of protein identifications using expectation
maximization or related approaches. One such approach is described
here for an affinity reagent binding experiment.
[0150] First, the binding probabilities for each affinity reagent
probe are initialized with an estimate. For example, a collection
of 200 probes may each target a single trimer and have an estimated
binding probability of 0.5. Proteins are identified using the
approaches disclosed elsewhere herein (for example, see Example 1).
Next, the binding probabilities for each probe are refined
iteratively based on empirical measurements, as summarized by the
steps below:
[0151] (1) Use the collection of unknown proteins identified with
estimated false discovery rate <0.01 to update binding
probabilities:
[0152] For each probe, calculate the updated binding probability
using the proportion of proteins in the collection that contain a
binding site (trimer) recognized by the probe:
updated probability = # of proteins in collection with binding site
that are bound by the probe # of proteins in collection with
binding site ##EQU00004##
[0153] Update the probe probability of "# of proteins in collection
with binding site >20".
[0154] If the updated probability is <10.sup.-5, set it to
10.sup.-5 (to avoid a probability of 0 being assigned).
[0155] (2) Perform another protein identification using the updated
binding probabilities.
[0156] Repeat steps 1 and 2 for multiple iterations (e.g., for a
total of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or more than 10
iterations).
[0157] This iterative approach was tested using an experiment with
200 probes, each recognizing a single trimer with binding
probability of 0.25. The 200 probe binding measurements were
modeled against 2000 unknown proteins with the initial estimate for
the probe binding probability set to 0.5. After performing 5
iterations of this iterative algorithm, the updated probe binding
probabilities became more accurate (closer to 0.25) and the protein
identification sensitivity increased.
[0158] FIG. 8 illustrates a plot showing the binding probability
(y-axis, left) and sensitivity of protein identification (y-axis,
right) against iteration (x-axis). As shown in FIG. 8, thin lines
show the probe binding probabilities for each individual probe, the
dark line among the thin lines is the median probe binding
probability, and the thick line shows the protein identification
sensitivity at each iteration.
Example 9: Estimating Identification False Discovery Rate from
Protein Candidate Match Probabilities
[0159] A probabilistic model for protein inference or
identification used in one or more methods described herein yields
as direct results a list of protein sequence matches for each
unknown protein and an associated probability of that sequence
match being correct. In many cases, only a subset of the protein
identifications may be correct. Therefore, a method useful for
estimating and controlling the false identification rate for a set
of proteins is described below.
[0160] First, the complete set of protein identifications is sorted
in descending order by the protein identification probability, as
given below (where prot=protein):
prot1 probability (p.sub.1): 0.99 prot2 probability (p.sub.2): 0.97
prot3 probability (p.sub.3): 0.92 prot4 probability (p.sub.4): 0.9
prot5 probability (p.sub.5): 0.8 prot6 probability (p.sub.6): 0.75
prot7 probability (p.sub.7): 0.6 prot8 probability (p.sub.8):
0.5
[0161] Next, the expected false discovery rate at each point in the
list is calculated as 1-p where p is the average of all
probabilities at the given point and earlier in the list (as given
below):
TABLE-US-00001 Protein Probability Estimated False ID Rate prot1
0.990 0.010 prot2 0.970 0.020 prot3 0.920 0.040 prot4 0.900 0.055
prot5 0.800 0.084 prot6 0.750 0.112 prot7 0.600 0.153 prot8 0.500
0.196
[0162] As shown in FIG. 9, a comparison of the estimated false
identification rate to the true false identification rate for a
simulated 200-probe experiment demonstrates accurate false
identification rate estimation. Referring to the top plot of FIG.
9, identification sensitivity is compared to the true false
identification rate and the estimated false identification rate.
Referring to the bottom plot of FIG. 9, the estimated false
identification rate is plotted against the true false
identification rate (as indicated by the solid line), while the
dashed line indicates an ideal perfectly accurate false
identification rate estimation.
[0163] The estimated false identification (ID) rate may be used to
threshold a list of protein identifications depending on a
tolerance for false identifications.
Example 10: Derivation of a False Discovery Rate Estimation
Approach
[0164] Consider a list of protein identifications, each protein
identification comprising the most likely protein match for an
unknown protein, and the associated probability of that match being
correct (P(protein|evidence). For example:
prot.sub.1--MACD2, p.sub.1=0.99 prot.sub.2--KCNU1, p.sub.2=0.97
prot.sub.3--RGL2, p.sub.3=0.92 prot.sub.4--MTLR, p.sub.4=0.9
[0165] The expected number of false discoveries in this list is
1--the average matching probability for all proteins in the list.
In this case:
1 - 0.99 + 0.97 + 0.92 + 0.9 4 = 0.055 ##EQU00005##
[0166] The rationale behind this approach is as follows. Consider a
list of N protein identifications, and each protein identification
prot.sub.i to be a random variable where prot.sub.i=1 if the
identification is correct and prot.sub.i=0 if the identification is
incorrect. In this case, the number of correct identifications
(correctids) in any list is the sum of these random variables:
correctids = i = 1 N proti i ##EQU00006##
[0167] The expectation value for each individual protein
identification is equivalent to the probability of a correct
identification:
E(prot.sub.i)=1*p.sub.i+0*(1-p.sub.i)=p.sub.i
[0168] By linearity of expectation, it follows that:
E ( correctids ) = i = 1 N E ( proti i ) = i = 1 N p i
##EQU00007##
[0169] The expected true discovery rate (# correct IDs/# IDs) is
the average candidate probability:
E ( correctids ) N = 1 N i = 1 N p i = p _ ##EQU00008##
[0170] The false discovery rate is 1--true discovery rate, or:
1-p
Example 11: Protein Identification Using Binding Measurement
Outcomes
[0171] The methods described herein may be applied to different
subsets of data associated with the binding and/or non-binding of
affinity reagents to unidentified proteins. In some embodiments,
methods described herein may be applied to experiments in which a
particular subset of the measured binding outcomes is not
considered (e.g., non-binding measurement outcomes). These methods
where a subset of the measured binding outcomes are not considered
may be referred to herein as a "censored" inference approach (e.g.,
as described in Example 1). In the results described in FIG. 10,
the protein identifications that result from the censored inference
approach are based on assessing occurrences of binding events
associated with the particular unidentified proteins. Accordingly,
the censored inference approach does not consider non-binding
outcomes in determining identities of unknown proteins.
[0172] This type of censored inference approach is in contrast to
an "uncensored" approach, in which all obtained binding outcomes
are considered (e.g., both binding measurement outcomes and
non-binding measurement outcomes associated with the particular
unidentified proteins). In some embodiments, a censored approach
may be applicable in cases where there is an expectation that
particular binding measurements or binding measurement outcomes are
more error-prone or likely to deviate from the expected binding
measurement outcome for the protein (e.g. the probability of that
binding measurement outcome being generated by the protein). For
example, in an affinity reagent binding experiment, probabilities
of binding measurement outcomes and non-binding measurement
outcomes may be calculated based on binding to denatured proteins
with predominantly linear structure. In these conditions, epitopes
may be easily accessible to affinity reagents. However, in some
embodiments, binding measurements on the assayed protein sample may
be collected under non-denaturing or partially-denaturing
conditions where proteins are present in a "folded" state with
significant 3-dimensional structure, which can in many cases cause
affinity reagent binding epitopes on the protein that are
accessible in a linearized form to be inaccessible due to steric
hindrance in the folded state. If, for example, the epitopes that
the affinity reagent recognizes for a protein are in structurally
accessible regions of the folded protein, the expectation may be
that empirical binding measurements acquired on the unknown sample
will be consistent with the calculated probabilities of binding
derived from linearized proteins. However, if, for example, the
epitopes recognized by the affinity reagent are structurally
inaccessible, the expectation may be that there will be more
non-binding outcomes than expected from calculated probabilities of
binding derived from linearized proteins. Further, based on the
particular conditions surrounding the protein, the 3-dimensional
structure may be configured in a number of different possible
configurations, and each of the different possible configurations
may have an unique expectation for binding a particular affinity
reagent based on the degree of accessibility of the desired
affinity reagent.
[0173] As such, non-binding outcomes may be expected to deviate
from the calculated binding probabilities for each protein, and a
censored inference approach which only considers binding outcomes
may be appropriate. In the "censored" inference approach as
provided in FIG. 10, only measured binding outcomes are considered
(in other words, either non-binding outcomes are not measured, or
measured non-binding outcomes are not considered), such that the
probability of a binding outcome set only considers the M measured
binding outcomes that resulted in a binding measurement, which is a
subset of the N total measured binding outcomes containing both
binding and non-binding measurement outcomes. This may be described
by the expression:
P(outcome set|protein)=P(binding event 1|protein)*P(binding event
2|protein)* . . . *P(binding event M|protein)
[0174] When applying a censored approach, it may be appropriate to
apply a scaling factor to P(binding outcome set|protein) to correct
for biases. For example, longer proteins generally have a higher
probability of generating a potential binding outcome (e.g.,
because they contain more potential binding sites). To correct for
this bias, a scaled likelihood SL may be calculated for each
candidate protein by dividing the P(binding outcome set|protein) by
the number of unique combinations of M binding sites that can be
generated from the protein based on the number of potential binding
sites on the protein. For a protein of length L, with trimer
recognition sites, there may be L-2 potential binding sites (e.g.,
every possible length L subsequence of the complete protein
sequence), such that:
SL Protein = P ( outcome set|protein ) ( L - 2 M ) = P ( outcome
set|protein ) M ! ( L - 2 - M ) ! ( L - 2 ) ! ##EQU00009##
[0175] The probability of any candidate protein selected from a
collection of Q possible candidate proteins, given the outcome set,
may be given by:
P ( protein i | outcome set ) = SL Protein i E j = 1 Q SL Protein j
##EQU00010##
[0176] The performance of an embodiment of a censored protein
inference vs. uncensored protein inference approach is plotted in
FIG. 10. The data plotted in FIG. 10 is provided in Table 1.
TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 1 Number of Censored Probes Sensitivity TRUE
100 1.52 FALSE 100 56.84 TRUE 200 73.28 FALSE 200 93.18 TRUE 300
93.92 FALSE 300 98.14 TRUE 400 96.68 FALSE 400 98.84 TRUE 500 98.42
FALSE 500 99.6
[0177] In the comparison shown in FIG. 10, the protein
identification sensitivity (e.g., percent of unique proteins
identified) is plotted against the number of affinity reagent
cycles measured for both censored inference and uncensored
inference used on linearized protein substrates. The affinity
reagents used are targeted against the top most abundant trimers in
the proteome, and each affinity reagent has off-target affinity to
four additional random trimers. The uncensored approach outperforms
the censored approach by a greater than ten-fold margin when 100
affinity reagent cycles are used. The degree to which uncensored
inference outperforms censored inference lessens when more cycles
are used.
Example 12: Tolerance of Protein Identification to Random False
Negative and False Positive Affinity Reagent Binding
[0178] In some cases, there may be a high incidence of false
negative binding measurement outcomes for affinity reagent binding.
"False negative" binding outcomes manifest as affinity reagent
binding measurements occurring less frequently than expected. Such
"false negative" outcomes may arise, for example, due to issues
with the binding detection method, the binding conditions (for
example, temperature, buffer composition, etc.), corruption of the
protein sample, or corruption of the affinity reagent stock. To
determine the impact of false negative measurements on the censored
protein identification and the uncensored protein identification
approach, a subset of affinity reagent measurement cycles were
purposely corrupted by switching either 1 in 10, 1 in 100, 1 in
1,000, 1 in 10,000, or 1 in 100,000 random observed binding events
to non-binding events in silico. Either 0, 1, 50, 100, 200, or 300
of the 300 total affinity reagent cycles were corrupted in this
manner. As shown by the results plotted in FIG. 11, both the
censored protein identification approach and the uncensored protein
identification approach are tolerant to this type of random false
negative binding. The data plotted in FIG. 11 is provided in Table
2.
TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 2 False Negative Number of Number of Probes
Censored Rate Probes Impacted Sensitivity TRUE 0.1 300 0 93.32
FALSE 0.1 300 0 98.04 TRUE 0.1 300 1 93.42 FALSE 0.1 300 1 98.12
TRUE 0.01 300 1 92.98 FALSE 0.01 300 1 98.48 TRUE 0.001 300 1 92.8
FALSE 0.001 300 1 97.82 TRUE 0.0001 300 1 92.82 FALSE 0.0001 300 1
98.32 TRUE 0.00001 300 1 93.38 FALSE 0.00001 300 1 98.02 TRUE 0.1
300 50 92.26 FALSE 0.1 300 50 97.96 TRUE 0.01 300 50 92.7 FALSE
0.01 300 50 97.76 TRUE 0.001 300 50 93.72 FALSE 0.001 300 50 98.04
TRUE 0.0001 300 50 92.96 FALSE 0.0001 300 50 97.84 TRUE 0.00001 300
50 93.7 FALSE 0.00001 300 50 98.1 TRUE 0.1 300 100 92.38 FALSE 0.1
300 100 97.66 TRUE 0.01 300 100 93.02 FALSE 0.01 300 100 97.7 TRUE
0.001 300 100 92.48 FALSE 0.001 300 100 97.96 TRUE 0.0001 300 100
93.74 FALSE 0.0001 300 100 98.34 TRUE 0.00001 300 100 91.88 FALSE
0.00001 300 100 97.2 TRUE 0.1 300 200 91.42 FALSE 0.1 300 200 97.28
TRUE 0.01 300 200 93.38 FALSE 0.01 300 200 98.2 TRUE 0.001 300 200
93.3 FALSE 0.001 300 200 98.08 TRUE 0.0001 300 200 92.68 FALSE
0.0001 300 200 98.12 TRUE 0.00001 300 200 92.7 FALSE 0.00001 300
200 98.16 TRUE 0.1 300 300 90.2 FALSE 0.1 300 300 97.1 TRUE 0.01
300 300 92.96 FALSE 0.01 300 300 98.16 TRUE 0.001 300 300 93.64
FALSE 0.001 300 300 98.14 TRUE 0.0001 300 300 92.92 FALSE 0.0001
300 300 98.18 TRUE 0.00001 300 300 92.54 FALSE 0.00001 300 300
98.14
[0179] Similarly, "false positive" binding outcomes manifest as
affinity reagent binding measurements occurring more frequently
than expected. The tolerance to "false positive" binding outcomes
was assessed by switching a subset of binding outcomes from
non-binding outcomes to binding outcomes. The results of this
assessment are provided in Table 3.
TABLE-US-00004 TABLE 3 False Positive Number of Number of Censored
Rate Probes Probes Impacted Sensitivity TRUE 0.1 300 0 93.32 FALSE
0.1 300 0 98.04 TRUE 0.1 300 1 92.54 FALSE 0.1 300 1 98.26 TRUE
0.01 300 1 92.74 FALSE 0.01 300 1 97.94 TRUE 0.001 300 1 92.48
FALSE 0.001 300 1 97.88 TRUE 0.0001 300 1 92.78 FALSE 0.0001 300 1
98.26 TRUE 0.00001 300 1 93.06 FALSE 0.00001 300 1 98.16 TRUE 0.1
300 50 68.2 FALSE 0.1 300 50 89.32 TRUE 0.01 300 50 91.28 FALSE
0.01 300 50 97.48 TRUE 0.001 300 50 92.66 FALSE 0.001 300 50 98.1
TRUE 0.0001 300 50 93 FALSE 0.0001 300 50 98.16 TRUE 0.00001 300 50
93.46 FALSE 0.00001 300 50 97.68 TRUE 0.1 300 100 40.98 FALSE 0.1
300 100 75.02 TRUE 0.01 300 100 88.56 FALSE 0.01 300 100 96.94 TRUE
0.001 300 100 93.34 FALSE 0.001 300 100 98.26 TRUE 0.0001 300 100
93.4 FALSE 0.0001 300 100 97.96 TRUE 0.00001 300 100 92.62 FALSE
0.00001 300 100 98.34 TRUE 0.1 300 200 14.8 FALSE 0.1 300 200 39.7
TRUE 0.01 300 200 84.56 FALSE 0.01 300 200 95.58 TRUE 0.001 300 200
92.22 FALSE 0.001 300 200 97.64 TRUE 0.0001 300 200 93.2 FALSE
0.0001 300 200 98.12 TRUE 0.00001 300 200 92.08 FALSE 0.00001 300
200 98.16 TRUE 0.1 300 300 3.46 FALSE 0.1 300 300 17.44 TRUE 0.01
300 300 79.46 FALSE 0.01 300 300 93.78 TRUE 0.001 300 300 92.52
FALSE 0.001 300 300 97.94 TRUE 0.0001 300 300 93.36 FALSE 0.0001
300 300 98.28 TRUE 0.00001 300 300 93.16 FALSE 0.00001 300 300
97.78
[0180] These results, which are plotted in FIG. 12, indicate that
the performance of a censored protein identification approach
degrades more rapidly than the uncensored protein identification
approach with increasing incidence of random false positive
measurements. However, both approaches tolerate a false positive
rate of 1 in 1000 in every affinity reagent cycle or a 1 in 100
rate in a subset of the affinity reagent cycles.
Example 13: Performance of Protein Inference with Overestimated or
Underestimated Affinity Reagent Binding Probabilities
[0181] Protein identification sensitivity was assessed using
protein identification with correctly estimated affinity reagent to
trimer binding probabilities, and with overestimated or
underestimated affinity reagent binding probabilities. The true
binding probability was 0.25. The underestimated binding
probabilities were: 0.05, 0.1, and 0.2. The overestimated binding
probabilities were 0.30, 0.50, 0.75, and 0.90. In total, 300 cycles
of affinity reagent measurements were acquired. None (0), all 300,
or a subset (1, 50, 100, 200) of the affinity reagents had the
overestimated or underestimated binding probabilities applied. All
others had the correct binding probabilities (0.25) used in protein
identification. The results of the analysis are provided in Table
4.
TABLE-US-00005 TABLE 4 Inference Number Number of Binding of Probes
True Binding Censored Probability Probes Impacted Sensitivity
Probability TRUE 0.05 300 0 93.32 0.25 FALSE 0.05 300 0 98.04 0.25
TRUE 0.05 300 1 94.04 0.25 FALSE 0.05 300 1 98.6 0.25 TRUE 0.1 300
1 93.22 0.25 FALSE 0.1 300 1 97.8 0.25 TRUE 0.2 300 1 92.64 0.25
FALSE 0.2 300 1 98.14 0.25 TRUE 0.25 300 1 93.24 0.25 FALSE 0.25
300 1 97.86 0.25 TRUE 0.3 300 1 93.3 0.25 FALSE 0.3 300 1 98.24
0.25 TRUE 0.5 300 1 93.28 0.25 FALSE 0.5 300 1 97.96 0.25 TRUE 0.75
300 1 93.38 0.25 FALSE 0.75 300 1 97.94 0.25 TRUE 0.9 300 1 92.84
0.25 FALSE 0.9 300 1 97.32 0.25 TRUE 0.05 300 50 92.22 0.25 FALSE
0.05 300 50 97.8 0.25 TRUE 0.1 300 50 93.14 0.25 FALSE 0.1 300 50
98.36 0.25 TRUE 0.2 300 50 93.5 0.25 FALSE 0.2 300 50 98.46 0.25
TRUE 0.25 300 50 92.98 0.25 FALSE 0.25 300 50 98.16 0.25 TRUE 0.3
300 50 92.42 0.25 FALSE 0.3 300 50 98.28 0.25 TRUE 0.5 300 50 93.18
0.25 FALSE 0.5 300 50 98.18 0.25 TRUE 0.75 300 50 92.98 0.25 FALSE
0.75 300 50 96.9 0.25 TRUE 0.9 300 50 92.6 0.25 FALSE 0.9 300 50
94.18 0.25 TRUE 0.05 300 100 92.7 0.25 FALSE 0.05 300 100 97.88
0.25 TRUE 0.1 300 100 93.14 0.25 FALSE 0.1 300 100 97.94 0.25 TRUE
0.2 300 100 92.94 0.25 FALSE 0.2 300 100 97.66 0.25 TRUE 0.25 300
100 92.74 0.25 FALSE 0.25 300 100 97.72 0.25 TRUE 0.3 300 100 93.06
0.25 FALSE 0.3 300 100 98.34 0.25 TRUE 0.5 300 100 92.52 0.25 FALSE
0.5 300 100 98.2 0.25 TRUE 0.75 300 100 92.26 0.25 FALSE 0.75 300
100 95.88 0.25 TRUE 0.9 300 100 91.54 0.25 FALSE 0.9 300 100 84.26
0.25 TRUE 0.05 300 200 91.6 0.25 FALSE 0.05 300 200 95.22 0.25 TRUE
0.1 300 200 93.36 0.25 FALSE 0.1 300 200 97.76 0.25 TRUE 0.2 300
200 92.96 0.25 FALSE 0.2 300 200 97.88 0.25 TRUE 0.25 300 200 93.28
0.25 FALSE 0.25 300 200 98.28 0.25 TRUE 0.3 300 200 92.7 0.25 FALSE
0.3 300 200 97.6 0.25 TRUE 0.5 300 200 92.36 0.25 FALSE 0.5 300 200
97.34 0.25 TRUE 0.75 300 200 91.22 0.25 FALSE 0.75 300 200 88.52
0.25 TRUE 0.9 300 200 90.52 0.25 FALSE 0.9 300 200 33 0.25 TRUE
0.05 300 300 91.7 0.25 FALSE 0.05 300 300 0 0.25 TRUE 0.1 300 300
92.66 0.25 FALSE 0.1 300 300 92.06 0.25 TRUE 0.2 300 300 92.78 0.25
FALSE 0.2 300 300 98.02 0.25 TRUE 0.25 300 300 93.56 0.25 FALSE
0.25 300 300 98.02 0.25 TRUE 0.3 300 300 93 0.25 FALSE 0.3 300 300
98.22 0.25 TRUE 0.5 300 300 91.6 0.25 FALSE 0.5 300 300 96.72 0.25
TRUE 0.75 300 300 90.36 0.25 FALSE 0.75 300 300 67.08 0.25 TRUE 0.9
300 300 88.72 0.25 FALSE 0.9 300 300 0.58 0.25
[0182] These results, which are plotted in FIG. 13, show that
censored protein identification may be a preferred approach in some
cases where binding probabilities may not be accurately
estimated.
Example 14: Performance of Protein Inference Approaches Using
Affinity Reagents with Unknown Binding Epitopes
[0183] In some cases, affinity reagents may possess a number of
binding sites (e.g., epitopes) which are unknown. The sensitivity
of censored protein identification and uncensored protein
identification approaches with affinity reagent binding
measurements were compared using affinity reagents that each bind
five trimer sites (e.g. a targeted trimer, and four random
off-target sites) with probability 0.25 that are input into the
protein identification algorithm. A subset of the affinity reagents
(0 of 300, 1 of 300, 50 of 300, 100 of 300, 200 of 300, or 300 of
300) had either 1, 4, or 40 additional extra binding sites each
against a random trimer with binding probability 0.05, 0.1 or 0.25.
The results of the analysis are shown in Table 5.
TABLE-US-00006 TABLE 5 Extra Sites Number of Number of Binding
Number of Probes Unknown Censored Probability Probes Impacted
Sensitivity Extra Sites TRUE 0.05 300 0 93.32 1 FALSE 0.05 300 0
98.04 1 TRUE 0.05 300 1 93.14 1 FALSE 0.05 300 1 97.96 1 TRUE 0.05
300 1 92.68 4 FALSE 0.05 300 1 98.12 4 TRUE 0.05 300 1 92.32 40
FALSE 0.05 300 1 97.82 40 TRUE 0.1 300 1 92.28 1 FALSE 0.1 300 1
98.02 1 TRUE 0.1 300 1 92.56 4 FALSE 0.1 300 1 98.34 4 TRUE 0.1 300
1 92.64 40 FALSE 0.1 300 1 97.86 40 TRUE 0.25 300 1 93.42 1 FALSE
0.25 300 1 98.46 1 TRUE 0.25 300 1 92.94 4 FALSE 0.25 300 1 98.12 4
TRUE 0.25 300 1 92.36 40 FALSE 0.25 300 1 98.1 40 TRUE 0.05 300 50
93.16 1 FALSE 0.05 300 50 97.94 1 TRUE 0.05 300 50 92.12 4 FALSE
0.05 300 50 97.44 4 TRUE 0.05 300 50 67.5 40 FALSE 0.05 300 50
96.26 40 TRUE 0.1 300 50 92.92 1 FALSE 0.1 300 50 98.34 1 TRUE 0.1
300 50 90.64 4 FALSE 0.1 300 50 97.88 4 TRUE 0.1 300 50 34.98 40
FALSE 0.1 300 50 92.24 40 TRUE 0.25 300 50 91.52 1 FALSE 0.25 300
50 98.12 1 TRUE 0.25 300 50 83.52 4 FALSE 0.25 300 50 97 4 TRUE
0.25 300 50 2.92 40 FALSE 0.25 300 50 37.52 40 TRUE 0.05 300 100 93
1 FALSE 0.05 300 100 97.84 1 TRUE 0.05 300 100 90.3 4 FALSE 0.05
300 100 97.56 4 TRUE 0.05 300 100 28.88 40 FALSE 0.05 300 100 90.12
40 TRUE 0.1 300 100 90.86 1 FALSE 0.1 300 100 97.96 1 TRUE 0.1 300
100 88.52 4 FALSE 0.1 300 100 97.9 4 TRUE 0.1 300 100 3.14 40 FALSE
0.1 300 100 35.04 40 TRUE 0.25 300 100 88.4 1 FALSE 0.25 300 100
97.68 1 TRUE 0.25 300 100 70.06 4 FALSE 0.25 300 100 95.26 4 TRUE
0.25 300 100 0.24 40 FALSE 0.25 300 100 0.08 40 TRUE 0.05 300 200
91.68 1 FALSE 0.05 300 200 98.22 1 TRUE 0.05 300 200 86.8 4 FALSE
0.05 300 200 98.1 4 TRUE 0.05 300 200 2.14 40 FALSE 0.05 300 200
26.82 40 TRUE 0.1 300 200 89.18 1 FALSE 0.1 300 200 97.96 1 TRUE
0.1 300 200 75.24 4 FALSE 0.1 300 200 96.36 4 TRUE 0.1 300 200 0.16
40 FALSE 0.1 300 200 0.16 40 TRUE 0.25 300 200 84.8 1 FALSE 0.25
300 200 96.7 1 TRUE 0.25 300 200 30.92 4 FALSE 0.25 300 200 90.92 4
TRUE 0.25 300 200 0.02 40 FALSE 0.25 300 200 0 40 TRUE 0.05 300 300
91.72 1 FALSE 0.05 300 300 97.68 1 TRUE 0.05 300 300 79.84 4 FALSE
0.05 300 300 96.88 4 TRUE 0.05 300 300 0.64 40 FALSE 0.05 300 300
1.26 40 TRUE 0.1 300 300 88.3 1 FALSE 0.1 300 300 98.34 1 TRUE 0.1
300 300 54.92 4 FALSE 0.1 300 300 95.32 4 TRUE 0.1 300 300 0 40
FALSE 0.1 300 300 0 40 TRUE 0.25 300 300 74.6 1 FALSE 0.25 300 300
97.26 1 TRUE 0.25 300 300 6.22 4 FALSE 0.25 300 300 58.24 4 TRUE
0.25 300 300 0 40 FALSE 0.25 300 300 0 40
[0184] These results, which are plotted in FIG. 14, show that
uncensored inference is more tolerant to the inclusion of
additional hidden binding sites, and that the performance of both
inference approaches is significantly compromised when 50 of the
300 affinity reagents contain 40 additional binding sites.
Example 15: Performance of Protein Inference Approaches Using
Affinity Reagents with Missing Binding Epitopes
[0185] In some cases, there may be improperly characterized
affinity reagents with a number of annotated binding epitopes that
do not exist (e.g., extra expected binding sites). That is, the
model used to generate expected binding probabilities for an
affinity reagent contains extra expected sites that do not exist.
The sensitivity of censored protein identification and uncensored
protein identification approaches with affinity reagent binding
measurements were compared using affinity reagents that each bind
random trimer sites (e.g. a targeted trimer, and four random
off-target sites) with probability 0.25 that are input into the
protein identification algorithm. A subset of the affinity reagents
(0 of 300, 1 of 300, 50 of 300, 100 of 300, 200 of 300, or 300 of
300) had either 1, 4, or 40 extra expected binding sites each
against a random trimer with binding probability 0.05, 0.1 or 0.25
added to the model for the affinity reagent used by the protein
inference algorithm. The results of the analysis are shown in Table
6.
TABLE-US-00007 TABLE 6 Extra Sites Number of Binding Number of
Number of Probes Censored Probability Extra Sites Probes Impacted
Sensitivity TRUE 0.05 1 300 0 93.32 FALSE 0.05 1 300 0 98.04 TRUE
0.05 1 300 1 94.06 FALSE 0.05 1 300 1 98.6 TRUE 0.05 4 300 1 93.08
FALSE 0.05 4 300 1 98.6 TRUE 0.05 40 300 1 93.38 FALSE 0.05 40 300
1 98.1 TRUE 0.1 1 300 1 92.98 FALSE 0.1 1 300 1 97.88 TRUE 0.1 4
300 1 93.54 FALSE 0.1 4 300 1 98.2 TRUE 0.1 40 300 1 93.26 FALSE
0.1 40 300 1 98.12 TRUE 0.25 1 300 1 92.98 FALSE 0.25 1 300 1 97.62
TRUE 0.25 4 300 1 92.7 FALSE 0.25 4 300 1 98.16 TRUE 0.25 40 300 1
93.06 FALSE 0.25 40 300 1 97.66 TRUE 0.05 1 300 50 92.4 FALSE 0.05
1 300 50 98.2 TRUE 0.05 4 300 50 92.66 FALSE 0.05 4 300 50 98.1
TRUE 0.05 40 300 50 91.14 FALSE 0.05 40 300 50 97.66 TRUE 0.1 1 300
50 93.22 FALSE 0.1 1 300 50 97.9 TRUE 0.1 4 300 50 92.04 FALSE 0.1
4 300 50 97.56 TRUE 0.1 40 300 50 87.74 FALSE 0.1 40 300 50 97.08
TRUE 0.25 1 300 50 92.28 FALSE 0.25 1 300 50 98.26 TRUE 0.25 4 300
50 91.8 FALSE 0.25 4 300 50 97.62 TRUE 0.25 40 300 50 87.16 FALSE
0.25 40 300 50 93.52 TRUE 0.05 1 300 100 91.9 FALSE 0.05 1 300 100
97.64 TRUE 0.05 4 300 100 92.74 FALSE 0.05 4 300 100 98.02 TRUE
0.05 40 300 100 84.18 FALSE 0.05 40 300 100 97.42 TRUE 0.1 1 300
100 92.82 FALSE 0.1 1 300 100 98.08 TRUE 0.1 4 300 100 92.46 FALSE
0.1 4 300 100 97.82 TRUE 0.1 40 300 100 76.28 FALSE 0.1 40 300 100
95.2 TRUE 0.25 1 300 100 91.18 FALSE 0.25 1 300 100 97.84 TRUE 0.25
4 300 100 90.38 FALSE 0.25 4 300 100 97.64 TRUE 0.25 40 300 100
60.5 FALSE 0.25 40 300 100 46.34 TRUE 0.05 1 300 200 93.32 FALSE
0.05 1 300 200 98.16 TRUE 0.05 4 300 200 90.42 FALSE 0.05 4 300 200
97.68 TRUE 0.05 40 300 200 74.82 FALSE 0.05 40 300 200 92.86 TRUE
0.1 1 300 200 93.28 FALSE 0.1 1 300 200 98.2 TRUE 0.1 4 300 200
90.62 FALSE 0.1 4 300 200 98.04 TRUE 0.1 40 300 200 55.4 FALSE 0.1
40 300 200 46.62 TRUE 0.25 1 300 200 92.14 FALSE 0.25 1 300 200
97.88 TRUE 0.25 4 300 200 85.22 FALSE 0.25 4 300 200 96.68 TRUE
0.25 40 300 200 4.92 FALSE 0.25 40 300 200 0.34 TRUE 0.05 1 300 300
92.8 FALSE 0.05 1 300 300 98.34 TRUE 0.05 4 300 300 91.04 FALSE
0.05 4 300 300 97.9 TRUE 0.05 40 300 300 53.2 FALSE 0.05 40 300 300
54.84 TRUE 0.1 1 300 300 91.28 FALSE 0.1 1 300 300 97.44 TRUE 0.1 4
300 300 85.08 FALSE 0.1 4 300 300 97.08 TRUE 0.1 40 300 300 10.66
FALSE 0.1 40 300 300 1.76 TRUE 0.25 1 300 300 90.64 FALSE 0.25 1
300 300 97.54 TRUE 0.25 4 300 300 78.6 FALSE 0.25 4 300 300 95.36
TRUE 0.25 40 300 300 0.06 FALSE 0.25 40 300 300 0
[0186] These results, which are plotted in FIG. 15, show that
uncensored inference is more tolerant to the inclusion of extra
expected binding sites included in the model of affinity reagent
binding, and that the performance of both protein identification
approaches is compromised to some degree when the majority of
affinity reagents contain 40 extra expected binding sites.
Example 16: Censored Inference for Affinity Reagent Binding
Analysis with an Alternative Scaling Strategy
[0187] The methods described herein may be applied to infer protein
identity (e.g., identify unknown proteins) using affinity reagent
binding measurements in combination with various probability
scaling strategies. The censored inference approach described in
Example 11 scales the probability of an observed outcome for a
protein based on the number of potential binding sites on the
protein (protein length-2) and the number of observed binding
outcomes (M):
SL Protein = P ( outcome set|protein ) ( L - 2 M ) ##EQU00011##
[0188] The methods described herein may be applied with alternative
approaches for computing scaled likelihoods. This example applies
an alternative approach for normalization that models the
probability of generating N binding events for a protein of length
k from the set of affinity reagents used to measure the protein,
and scales based on this probability. First, for each probe, the
probability of the probe binding a trimer of unknown identity in
the sample is calculated:
P ( trimer bind | probe i ) = j = 1 j = 8000 P ( trimer j ) P (
probe i bind | trimer j ) ##EQU00012##
where P (trimer.sub.j) is the frequency with which the trimer
occurs relative to the summed count of all 8,000 trimers in the
proteome. For any protein of length k, the probability of a probe i
binding the protein may be given by:
P(protein bind|probe.sub.i,k)=1-(1-P(trimer
bind|probe.sub.i)).sup.k-2
[0189] The number of successful binding events observed for a
protein of length k may follow a Poisson-Binomial distribution with
n trials, where n is the number of probe binding measurements made
for the protein and the parameters p.sub.probes,k of the
distribution indicate the probability of success for each
trial:
p.sub.probes,k=[P(bind|probe.sub.1,k),P(bind|probe.sub.2,k),P(bind|probe-
.sub.3,k) . . . P(bind|probe.sub.n,k)].
[0190] The probability of generating N binding events from a
protein of length k, with a particular set of probes, may be given
by the probability mass function of the Poisson binomial
distribution (PMF.sub.PoiBin) parameterized by p, evaluated at
N:
P(N binding events|probes,k)=PMF.sub.PoiBin(N,p.sub.probes,k)
[0191] The scaled likelihood of a particular outcome set is
computed based on this probability:
SL protein , binding events = P ( outcome set|protein ) P ( N
binding events|probes, k ) ##EQU00013##
Example 17: Using Randomly Selected Affinity Reagents
[0192] The methods described herein may be applied to any set of
affinity reagents. For example, the protein identification approach
may be applied to a set of affinity reagents targeting the most
abundant trimers in the proteome, or targeting random trimers. The
results from a human protein inference analysis using affinity
reagents targeting the top 300 least abundant trimers in the
proteome, 300 randomly selected trimers in the proteome, or the 300
most abundant trimers in the proteome, are shown in Tables 7A-7C,
respectively.
Tables 7A-C
TABLE-US-00008 [0193] TABLE 7A 300 affinity reagents targeting the
least-abundant trimers in the proteome Number of Probe Set
Experiment Selection Probes ID Repetition Type Sensitivity 300 100
0 Bottom 300 91.9 300 100 1 Bottom 300 91.24 300 100 2 Bottom 300
91.74 300 100 3 Bottom 300 90.9 300 100 4 Bottom 300 90.46
TABLE-US-00009 TABLE 7B 300 affinity reagents targeting random
trimers in the proteome Number of Probe Set Experiment Selection
Probes ID Repetition Type Sensitivity 300 0 0 Random 94.4 300 0 1
Random 94.2 300 0 2 Random 94.18 300 0 3 Random 94.64 300 0 4
Random 94.24 300 1 0 Random 94.12 300 1 1 Random 94.08 300 1 2
Random 94.12 300 1 3 Random 93.7 300 1 4 Random 93.54 300 2 0
Random 93.68 300 2 1 Random 93.68 300 2 2 Random 93.68 300 2 3
Random 93.74 300 2 4 Random 93.9 300 3 0 Random 95.12 300 3 1
Random 94.38 300 3 2 Random 94.76 300 3 3 Random 95.4 300 3 4
Random 94.6 300 4 0 Random 94.46 300 4 1 Random 94.74 300 4 2
Random 95.04 300 4 3 Random 94.66 300 4 4 Random 94.76 300 5 0
Random 94.58 300 5 1 Random 94.62 300 5 2 Random 94.48 300 5 3
Random 94.48 300 5 4 Random 95 300 6 0 Random 93.18 300 6 1 Random
93.44 300 6 2 Random 93.28 300 6 3 Random 93.8 300 6 4 Random 94.26
300 7 0 Random 95.16 300 7 1 Random 94.02 300 7 2 Random 95 300 7 3
Random 95.1 300 7 4 Random 94.86 300 8 0 Random 93.56 300 8 1
Random 95.5 300 8 2 Random 94.7 300 8 3 Random 94.72 300 8 4 Random
94.94 300 9 0 Random 94.46 300 9 1 Random 95.44 300 9 2 Random
93.98 300 9 3 Random 94.58 300 9 4 Random 94.34 300 10 0 Random
94.54 300 10 1 Random 94.56 300 10 2 Random 94.78 300 10 3 Random
94.86 300 10 4 Random 95.08 300 11 0 Random 94.36 300 11 1 Random
94.86 300 11 2 Random 95.3 300 11 3 Random 94.16 300 11 4 Random
94.9 300 12 0 Random 94.92 300 12 1 Random 94.66 300 12 2 Random
94.26 300 12 3 Random 94.58 300 12 4 Random 94.02 300 13 0 Random
94.78 300 13 1 Random 94.54 300 13 2 Random 95.02 300 13 3 Random
94.94 300 13 4 Random 94.98 300 14 0 Random 95.3 300 14 1 Random
94.36 300 14 2 Random 94.76 300 14 3 Random 95.26 300 14 4 Random
94.52 300 15 0 Random 94.48 300 15 1 Random 94.6 300 15 2 Random
94.98 300 15 3 Random 94.6 300 15 4 Random 95.8 300 16 0 Random
94.58 300 16 1 Random 92.96 300 16 2 Random 94.6 300 16 3 Random
93.84 300 16 4 Random 94.38 300 17 0 Random 94.76 300 17 1 Random
94.54 300 17 2 Random 94.72 300 17 3 Random 94.24 300 17 4 Random
94.12 300 18 0 Random 94.16 300 18 1 Random 94.1 300 18 2 Random
94.86 300 18 3 Random 93.98 300 18 4 Random 95.04 300 19 0 Random
93.58 300 19 1 Random 94.94 300 19 2 Random 95.12 300 19 3 Random
94.8 300 19 4 Random 94.8 300 20 0 Random 93 300 20 1 Random 94.22
300 20 2 Random 94.4 300 20 3 Random 93.64 300 20 4 Random 94.76
300 21 0 Random 93.68 300 21 1 Random 94.18 300 21 2 Random 94.38
300 21 3 Random 94.48 300 21 4 Random 94.68 300 22 0 Random 93.66
300 22 1 Random 94.16 300 22 2 Random 94.1 300 22 3 Random 94.16
300 22 4 Random 94.1 300 23 0 Random 93.94 300 23 1 Random 94.42
300 23 2 Random 94.24 300 23 3 Random 93.9 300 23 4 Random 94.4 300
24 0 Random 95 300 24 1 Random 94.82 300 24 2 Random 94.16 300 24 3
Random 94.58 300 24 4 Random 94.54 300 25 0 Random 94.5 300 25 1
Random 95.1 300 25 2 Random 95.3 300 25 3 Random 94.54 300 25 4
Random 95.22 300 26 0 Random 94.22 300 26 1 Random 94.08 300 26 2
Random 94.52 300 26 3 Random 94.3 300 26 4 Random 94.6 300 27 0
Random 93.92 300 27 1 Random 94.24 300 27 2 Random 93.64 300 27 3
Random 93.84 300 27 4 Random 94.04 300 28 0 Random 94.08 300 28 1
Random 95.14 300 28 2 Random 94.82 300 28 3 Random 94.7 300 28 4
Random 94.92 300 29 0 Random 94.82 300 29 1 Random 93.76 300 29 2
Random 93.98 300 29 3 Random 93.14 300 29 4 Random 94.46 300 30 0
Random 94.6 300 30 1 Random 96.22 300 30 2 Random 95.06 300 30 3
Random 95.12 300 30 4 Random 94.82 300 31 0 Random 93.12 300 31 1
Random 93.92 300 31 2 Random 93.3 300 31 3 Random 94.7 300 31 4
Random 94.22 300 32 0 Random 93.7 300 32 1 Random 94.62 300 32 2
Random 94.12 300 32 3 Random 94.08 300 32 4 Random 94.72 300 33 0
Random 94.82 300 33 1 Random 93.44 300 33 2 Random 94.06 300 33 3
Random 94.54 300 33 4 Random 94.42 300 34 0 Random 94.16 300 34 1
Random 93.28 300 34 2 Random 94.9 300 34 3 Random 93.12 300 34 4
Random 94.3 300 35 0 Random 94.54 300 35 1 Random 93.56 300 35 2
Random 93.4 300 35 3 Random 93.78 300 35 4 Random 94.5 300 36 0
Random 94.34 300 36 1 Random 93.9 300 36 2 Random 94.7 300 36 3
Random 95.12 300 36 4 Random 94.8 300 37 0 Random 94.38 300 37 1
Random 95.22 300 37 2 Random 94.98 300 37 3 Random 94.12 300 37 4
Random 95.06 300 38 0 Random 94.34 300 38 1 Random 94.82 300 38 2
Random 93.8 300 38 3 Random 94.8 300 38 4 Random 95.1 300 39 0
Random 93.72 300 39 1 Random 93.7 300 39 2 Random 94.12 300 39 3
Random 94.04 300 39 4 Random 93.98 300 40 0 Random 94.42 300 40 1
Random 93.86 300 40 2 Random 93.46 300 40 3 Random 94.34 300 40 4
Random 94.12 300 41 0 Random 94.16 300 41 1 Random 95 300 41 2
Random 95.22 300 41 3 Random 95.38 300 41 4 Random 95.36 300 42 0
Random 93.36 300 42 1 Random 94.38 300 42 2 Random 94.28 300 42 3
Random 94.52 300 42 4 Random 93.94 300 43 0 Random 95.5 300 43 1
Random 95.04 300 43 2 Random 95.32 300 43 3 Random 94.84 300 43 4
Random 95.26 300 44 0 Random 94.74 300 44 1 Random 94.6 300 44 2
Random 93.8 300 44 3 Random 94.04 300 44 4 Random 94.22 300 45 0
Random 93.64 300 45 1 Random 93.78 300 45 2 Random 94.12 300 45 3
Random 94.48 300 45 4 Random 94.66 300 46 0 Random 94.48 300 46 1
Random 94.92 300 46 2 Random 95.04 300 46 3 Random 94.14 300 46 4
Random 94.6 300 47 0 Random 94.2 300 47 1 Random 93.56 300 47 2
Random 95.36 300 47 3 Random 95.64 300 47 4 Random 94.18 300 48 0
Random 94.38 300 48 1 Random 95.1 300 48 2 Random 94.24 300 48 3
Random 94.6
300 48 4 Random 94.76 300 49 0 Random 94.98 300 49 1 Random 95.9
300 49 2 Random 95.08 300 49 3 Random 94.72 300 49 4 Random 94.02
300 50 0 Random 94.72 300 50 1 Random 94.44 300 50 2 Random 95.84
300 50 3 Random 95 300 50 4 Random 94.62 300 51 0 Random 94.92 300
51 1 Random 94.26 300 51 2 Random 94.34 300 51 3 Random 94.66 300
51 4 Random 93.58 300 52 0 Random 94.98 300 52 1 Random 95.12 300
52 2 Random 94.88 300 52 3 Random 94.78 300 52 4 Random 94.88 300
53 0 Random 94.88 300 53 1 Random 95.04 300 53 2 Random 94.18 300
53 3 Random 94.04 300 53 4 Random 94.56 300 54 0 Random 94.26 300
54 1 Random 94.1 300 54 2 Random 95.32 300 54 3 Random 94.44 300 54
4 Random 94.74 300 55 0 Random 94.68 300 55 1 Random 94.68 300 55 2
Random 95.52 300 55 3 Random 94.54 300 55 4 Random 95.12 300 56 0
Random 94.58 300 56 1 Random 95.14 300 56 2 Random 94.58 300 56 3
Random 95.18 300 56 4 Random 94.84 300 57 0 Random 94.54 300 57 1
Random 93.82 300 57 2 Random 94.92 300 57 3 Random 95.14 300 57 4
Random 94.26 300 58 0 Random 94.36 300 58 1 Random 94.74 300 58 2
Random 94.92 300 58 3 Random 94.36 300 58 4 Random 94.28 300 59 0
Random 94.54 300 59 1 Random 93.92 300 59 2 Random 95.04 300 59 3
Random 95.4 300 59 4 Random 93.76 300 60 0 Random 94.8 300 60 1
Random 94.74 300 60 2 Random 93.82 300 60 3 Random 94.54 300 60 4
Random 93.86 300 61 0 Random 94.5 300 61 1 Random 94.76 300 61 2
Random 94.3 300 61 3 Random 94.68 300 61 4 Random 94.42 300 62 0
Random 93.72 300 62 1 Random 94.94 300 62 2 Random 94.12 300 62 3
Random 93.86 300 62 4 Random 95.38 300 63 0 Random 95.1 300 63 1
Random 95.4 300 63 2 Random 94.94 300 63 3 Random 94.62 300 63 4
Random 94.32 300 64 0 Random 94.96 300 64 1 Random 94.02 300 64 2
Random 94.52 300 64 3 Random 93.98 300 64 4 Random 94.48 300 65 0
Random 93.6 300 65 1 Random 94.4 300 65 2 Random 93.38 300 65 3
Random 94.54 300 65 4 Random 93.14 300 66 0 Random 94.44 300 66 1
Random 94.2 300 66 2 Random 94.9 300 66 3 Random 94.68 300 66 4
Random 94.6 300 67 0 Random 94.3 300 67 1 Random 94.08 300 67 2
Random 94.56 300 67 3 Random 93.78 300 67 4 Random 94.52 300 68 0
Random 93.24 300 68 1 Random 93.76 300 68 2 Random 94.8 300 68 3
Random 94.36 300 68 4 Random 93.76 300 69 0 Random 94.58 300 69 1
Random 94.52 300 69 2 Random 94.72 300 69 3 Random 94.88 300 69 4
Random 93.38 300 70 0 Random 95.34 300 70 1 Random 94.52 300 70 2
Random 94.38 300 70 3 Random 94.94 300 70 4 Random 93.6 300 71 0
Random 93.8 300 71 1 Random 94.38 300 71 2 Random 94.32 300 71 3
Random 93.2 300 71 4 Random 94.28 300 72 0 Random 94.76 300 72 1
Random 95 300 72 2 Random 95.64 300 72 3 Random 95.28 300 72 4
Random 95.68 300 73 0 Random 94.92 300 73 1 Random 94.52 300 73 2
Random 94.36 300 73 3 Random 94.38 300 73 4 Random 94.56 300 74 0
Random 94.62 300 74 1 Random 94.18 300 74 2 Random 94.38 300 74 3
Random 94.38 300 74 4 Random 93.5 300 75 0 Random 95.32 300 75 1
Random 95.42 300 75 2 Random 94.9 300 75 3 Random 94.96 300 75 4
Random 94.1 300 76 0 Random 94.9 300 76 1 Random 95.46 300 76 2
Random 94.72 300 76 3 Random 94.54 300 76 4 Random 94.16 300 77 0
Random 94.14 300 77 1 Random 93.94 300 77 2 Random 94.28 300 77 3
Random 94.62 300 77 4 Random 94.38 300 78 0 Random 93.8 300 78 1
Random 93.84 300 78 2 Random 94.56 300 78 3 Random 94.18 300 78 4
Random 93.76 300 79 0 Random 94.28 300 79 1 Random 93.66 300 79 2
Random 93.76 300 79 3 Random 94.6 300 79 4 Random 95.76 300 80 0
Random 94.52 300 80 1 Random 94.82 300 80 2 Random 93.82 300 80 3
Random 94.9 300 80 4 Random 94.3 300 81 0 Random 94.84 300 81 1
Random 94.82 300 81 2 Random 94.76 300 81 3 Random 94.54 300 81 4
Random 94.74 300 82 0 Random 95.26 300 82 1 Random 94.32 300 82 2
Random 94.04 300 82 3 Random 94.98 300 82 4 Random 94.56 300 83 0
Random 94.9 300 83 1 Random 94.76 300 83 2 Random 94.06 300 83 3
Random 94.46 300 83 4 Random 94.8 300 84 0 Random 93.66 300 84 1
Random 93.28 300 84 2 Random 94.64 300 84 3 Random 93.58 300 84 4
Random 93.86 300 85 0 Random 94.16 300 85 1 Random 93.06 300 85 2
Random 94.02 300 85 3 Random 93.1 300 85 4 Random 94.3 300 86 0
Random 94.18 300 86 1 Random 95.02 300 86 2 Random 93.9 300 86 3
Random 94.58 300 86 4 Random 94.8 300 87 0 Random 95.18 300 87 1
Random 95.52 300 87 2 Random 95.38 300 87 3 Random 95.7 300 87 4
Random 94.72 300 88 0 Random 94.52 300 88 1 Random 93.7 300 88 2
Random 94.36 300 88 3 Random 94.14 300 88 4 Random 95.1 300 89 0
Random 93.62 300 89 1 Random 94.8 300 89 2 Random 94.1 300 89 3
Random 94.96 300 89 4 Random 94.68 300 90 0 Random 94.6 300 90 1
Random 94.04 300 90 2 Random 94.14 300 90 3 Random 94.36 300 90 4
Random 94.24 300 91 0 Random 94.12 300 91 1 Random 94.32 300 91 2
Random 93.7 300 91 3 Random 94.56 300 91 4 Random 94.68 300 92 0
Random 95.06 300 92 1 Random 94.06 300 92 2 Random 95.48 300 92 3
Random 95.48 300 92 4 Random 95.24 300 93 0 Random 93.46 300 93 1
Random 94.4 300 93 2 Random 93.62 300 93 3 Random 94.72 300 93 4
Random 95.16 300 94 0 Random 95 300 94 1 Random 94.74 300 94 2
Random 94.1 300 94 3 Random 94.26 300 94 4 Random 95.02 300 95 0
Random 94.94 300 95 1 Random 94.6 300 95 2 Random 93.9 300 95 3
Random 95.16 300 95 4 Random 94.14 300 96 0 Random 95.08 300 96 1
Random 94.54 300 96 2 Random 94.6 300 96 3 Random 95.14 300 96 4
Random 93.88 300 97 0 Random 93.66 300 97 1 Random 94.32 300 97 2
Random 93.76 300 97 3 Random 94.1 300 97 4 Random 93.64 300 98 0
Random 95.48 300 98 1 Random 94.34 300 98 2 Random 94.96 300 98 3
Random 94.74 300 98 4 Random 95.28
300 99 0 Random 93.86 300 99 1 Random 94.2 300 99 2 Random 94.98
300 99 3 Random 94.38 300 99 4 Random 94.44
TABLE-US-00010 TABLE 7C 300 affinity reagents targeting the
most-abundant trimers in the proteome Number of Probe Set
Experiment Selection Probes ID Repetitions Type Sensitivity 300 101
0 Top 300 97.98 300 101 1 Top 300 97.24 300 101 2 Top 300 97.94 300
101 3 Top 300 98.18 300 101 4 Top 300 97.12
[0194] These results are plotted in FIG. 16. In all cases, each
affinity reagent had a binding probability of 0.25 to the targeted
trimer, and a binding probability of 0.25 to 4 additional randomly
selected trimers. The performance of each affinity reagent set is
measured based on sensitivity (e.g., the percentage of proteins
identified). Each affinity reagent set was assessed in 5
replicates, with the performance of each replicate plotted as a
dot, and a vertical line connecting replicate measurements from the
same set of affinity reagents. The results from the affinity
reagent set consisting of the top 300 most abundant affinity
reagents is in blue, the bottom 300 in green. A total of 100
different sets of 300 affinity reagents targeting random trimers
were generated and assessed. Each of those sets is represented by a
set of 5 grey points (one for each replicate) connected by a
vertical grey line. According to the uncensored inference used in
this analysis, targeting more abundant trimers improves
identification performance as compared to targeting random
trimers.
Example 18: Affinity Reagents with Biosimilar Off-Target Sites
[0195] The methods described herein may be applied to affinity
reagent binding experiment with affinity reagents having different
types of off-target binding sites (epitopes). In this example,
performance with two classes of affinity reagents are compared:
random, and "biosimilar" affinity reagents. The results from these
assessments are shown in Tables 8A-8D.
Tables 8A-D
TABLE-US-00011 [0196] TABLE 8A Performance of Censored Inference
with Affinity Reagents having Biosimilar Off- Target Sites and
Targeting the 300 Most-Abundant Trimers in the Proteome Number of
Censored Cycles Probe Type Sensitivity TRUE 100 Biosimilar 0.00634
TRUE 200 Biosimilar 31.97667 TRUE 300 Biosimilar 68.73336
TABLE-US-00012 TABLE 8B Performance of Uncensored Inference with
Affinity Reagents having Biosimilar Off-Target Sites and Targeting
the 300 Most-Abundant Trimers in the Proteome Number of Censored
Cycles Probe Type Sensitivity FALSE 100 Biosimilar 75.67516 FALSE
200 Biosimilar 97.68607 FALSE 300 Biosimilar 99.06809
TABLE-US-00013 TABLE 8C Performance of Censored Inference with
Affinity Reagents having Random Off-Target Sites and Targeting the
300 Most-Abundant Trimers in the Proteome Number of Censored Cycles
Probe Type Sensitivity TRUE 100 Random 0.082414 TRUE 200 Random
74.68619 TRUE 300 Random 93.13427
TABLE-US-00014 TABLE 8D Performance of Uncensored Inference with
Affinity Reagents having Random Off-Target Sites and Targeting the
300 Most-Abundant Trimers in the Proteome Number of Censored Cycles
Probe Type Sensitivity FALSE 100 Random 60.02916 FALSE 200 Random
95.47356 FALSE 300 Random 98.51021
[0197] Unlike the random affinity reagents, the biosimilar affinity
reagents have off-target binding sites that are biochemically
similar to the targeted epitope. Both the random and biosimilar
affinity reagents recognize their target epitope (e.g., a trimer)
with binding probability 0.25. Each of the random class of affinity
reagents has 4 randomly selected off-target trimer binding sites
with binding probability 0.25. In contrast, the 4 off-target
binding sites for the "biosimilar" affinity reagents are the four
trimers most similar to the trimer targeted by the affinity
reagent, which are bound with probability 0.25. For these
biosimilar affinity reagents, the similarity between trimer
sequences is computed by summing the BLOSUM62 coefficient for the
amino acid pair at each sequence location. Both the random and
biosimilar affinity reagent sets target the top 300 most abundant
trimers in the human proteome, where abundance is measured as the
number of unique proteins containing one or more instances of the
trimer. FIG. 17 shows the performance of the censored (dashed
lines) and uncensored (solid lines) protein inference approaches in
terms of the percent of proteins identified in a human sample when
affinity reagents with random (blue) or biosimilar (orange)
off-target sites are used.
[0198] In this comparison, uncensored inference outperforms
censored inference, with uncensored inference performing better in
the case of biosimilar affinity reagents, and censored inference
performing better in the case of random affinity reagents.
[0199] Alternatively, rather than using affinity reagents targeting
the most abundant trimers in the proteome, an optimal set of trimer
targets may be chosen for a particular approach based on the
candidate proteins that may be measured (for example, the human
proteome), the type of protein inference being performed (censored
or uncensored), and the type of affinity reagents being used
(random or biosimilar). A "greedy" algorithm, as described below,
may be used to select a set of optimal affinity reagents: [0200] 1)
Initialize an empty list of selected affinity reagents (AR). [0201]
2) Initialize a set of candidate ARs (e.g., a collection of 8,000
ARs, each targeting a unique trimer with random off-target sites).
[0202] 3) Select a set of protein sequences to optimize against
(e.g., all human proteins in the Uniprot reference proteome).
[0203] 4) Repeat the following until the desired number of ARs has
been selected: [0204] a. For each candidate AR: [0205] i. Simulate
binding of the candidate AR against the protein set. [0206] ii.
Perform protein inference for each protein using the simulated
binding measurements from the candidate AR and the simulated
binding measurements from all previously selected ARs. [0207] iii.
Calculate a score for the candidate AR by summing up the
probability of the correct protein identification for each protein
determined by protein inference. [0208] b. Add the AR with the
highest score to the set of selected ARs, and remove it from the
candidate AR list.
[0209] The greedy approach was used to select 300 optimal affinity
reagents from either the collection of random affinity reagents or
biosimilar affinity reagents targeting the top 4,000 most abundant
trimers in the human proteome. The optimization was performed for
both censored protein inference and uncensored protein inference.
The results from these optimizations are provided in Tables
9A-9D.
Tables 9A-D
TABLE-US-00015 [0210] TABLE 9A Performance of Censored Inference
with Affinity Reagents having Biosimilar Off-Target Sites and
Targeting the 300 Optimal Trimers in the Proteome Number of
Censored Cycles Probe Type Sensitivity TRUE 100 Biosimilar 25.58007
TRUE 200 Biosimilar 87.82173 TRUE 300 Biosimilar 95.15025
TABLE-US-00016 TABLE 9B Performance of Uncensored Inference with
Affinity Reagents having Biosimilar Off-Target Sites and Targeting
the 300 Optimal Trimers in the Proteome Number of Censored Cycles
Probe Type Sensitivity FALSE 100 Biosimilar 76.76556 FALSE 200
Biosimilar 97.2106 FALSE 300 Biosimilar 99.03005
TABLE-US-00017 TABLE 9C Performance of Censored Inference with
Affinity Reagents having Random Off-Target Sites and Targeting the
300 Optimal Trimers in the Proteome Number of Censored Cycles Probe
Type Sensitivity TRUE 100 Random 24.93343 TRUE 200 Random 88.06263
TRUE 300 Random 95.8476
TABLE-US-00018 TABLE 9D Performance of Uncensored Inference with
Affinity Reagents having Random Off-Target Sites and Targeting the
300 Optimal Trimers in the Proteome Number of Censored Cycles Probe
Type Sensitivity FALSE 100 Random 65.72841 FALSE 200 Random
96.38012 FALSE 300 Random 98.56092
[0211] The performance of the optimized probe sets for both
censored protein inference and uncensored protein inference are
plotted in FIG. 18.
[0212] Using the set of affinity reagents selected by the greedy
optimization algorithm improves the performance of both random and
biosimilar affinity reagent sets using both censored protein
inference and uncensored protein inference approaches.
Additionally, random affinity reagents sets perform almost
identically to biosimilar affinity reagents sets when the greedy
approach is used to select affinity reagents.
Example 19: Protein Inference Using Binding of Mixtures of Affinity
Reagents
[0213] The methods described herein may be applied to analyze
and/or identify proteins that have been measured using mixtures of
affinity reagents. The probability of a specific protein generating
a binding outcome when assayed by a mixture of affinity reagents
may be computed as follows: [0214] 1) Calculate p.sub.ns, the
average probability of non-specific epitope binding of each
affinity reagent in the mixture. [0215] 2) Calculate the number of
binding sites on the protein based on the length of the protein (L)
and the length of the affinity reagent epitopes (K): Num binding
sites=L-K+1. The probability of no non-specific binding events
occurring is (1-p.sub.ns).sup.L-K+1. [0216] 3) For each affinity
reagent in the mixture, calculate the probability of no
epitope-specific binding events occurring:
[0216] P_no _spec _bind ( AR ) = epitope ( 1 - epitope binding
probability ) epitope count in protein ##EQU00014## [0217] 4) The
probability of the mixture generating a non-binding outcome for the
protein is:
[0217] P ( no bind|protein ) = ( 1 - p ns _ ) L - K + 1 AR P_no
_spec _bind ( AR ) ##EQU00015## [0218] 5) The probability of the
mixture generating a binding outcome is:
[0218] P(bind|protein)=1-P(no bind|protein)
[0219] This approach for calculating the probability of a binding
or non-binding outcome from a protein mixture was used in
combination with the methods described herein to analyze the
performance of mixtures of affinity reagents for protein
identification. Each individual affinity reagent in the analysis
binds to its targeted trimer epitope with a probability of 0.25 and
the 4 most similar trimers to that epitope target with a
probability of 0.25. For these affinity reagents, trimer similarity
is calculated by summing the coefficients from the BLOSUM62
substitution matrix for the amino acids at each sequence location
in the trimers being compared. Additionally, each affinity reagent
binds 20 additional off-target sites with binding probability
scaled depending on the sequence similarity between the off-target
site and the targeted trimer calculated using the BLOSUM62
substitution matrix. The probability for these additional off
target sites is: 0.25*1.5.sup.S.sup.OT.sup.-S.sup.self where
S.sub.OT is the BLOSUM62 similarity between the off-target site and
the targeted site, and S.sub.self is the BLOSUM62 similarity
between the targeted sequence and itself. Any off-target sites with
binding probability below 2.45.times.10.sup.8 are adjusted to have
binding probability 2.45.times.10.sup.8. The non-specific epitope
binding probability is 2.45.times.10.sup.8 in this example.
[0220] An optimal set of 300 mixtures of affinity reagents were
generated for both censored and uncensored protein inference using
a greedy approach: [0221] 1) Initialize an empty list of selected
affinity reagent (AR) mixtures. [0222] 2) Initialize a list of
candidate affinity reagents (in this example, consisting of the 300
most optimal computed using the greedy approach detailed in Example
18). [0223] 3) Select a set of protein sequences to optimize
against (e.g., all human proteins in the Uniprot reference
proteome). [0224] 4) Repeat the following until the desired number
of AR mixtures has been generated: [0225] a. Initialize an empty
mixture. [0226] b. For each candidate AR: [0227] i. Simulate
binding outcomes using the current mixture with the candidate AR
added to it. [0228] ii. Perform protein inference for each protein
using the simulated binding measurements from i. and simulated
binding measurements from previously generated mixtures. [0229]
iii. Calculate a score for the mixture with this candidate AR by
summing up the probability of the correct protein identification
for each protein as determined by protein inference. [0230] c. Add
the highest scoring candidate AR to the mixture. [0231] d. For each
candidate AR not already in the mixture, score the mixture with the
addition of the AR, as in i-iii, and if the highest scoring
candidate has a higher score than the previous candidate added to
the mixture, add it to the mixture and repeat this step. The
mixture is complete when the best scoring candidate AR reduces the
score of the mixture relative to the previously added candidate or
when all candidate ARs have been added to the mixture.
[0232] FIG. 19 shows the protein identification sensitivity when
the unmixed candidate affinity reagents are used with censored
protein inference and uncensored protein inference, and when
mixtures are used. The data plotted in FIG. 19 is shown in Tables
10A-10B.
Tables 10A-B
TABLE-US-00019 [0233] TABLE 10A Performance of Censored Inference
with Measurements Made on Individual Probe Binding (unmix) or
Mixtures of Probes (mix) Number of Censored Mix Type Cycles Probe
Type Sensitivity TRUE mix 100 Biosimilar 2.244199 TRUE unmix 100
Biosimilar 1.363002 TRUE mix 200 Biosimilar 72.16939 TRUE unmix 200
Biosimilar 76.51198 TRUE mix 300 Biosimilar 86.91518 TRUE unmix 300
Biosimilar 91.5684
TABLE-US-00020 TABLE 10B Performance of Uncensored Inference with
Measurements Made on Individual Probe Binding (unmix) or Mixtures
of Probes (mix) Number of Censored Mix Type Cycles Probe Type
Sensitivity FALSE mix 100 Biosimilar 65.76011 FALSE unmix 100
Biosimilar 50.79244 FALSE mix 200 Biosimilar 97.81286 FALSE unmix
200 Biosimilar 96.30404 FALSE mix 300 Biosimilar 99.14416 FALSE
unmix 300 Biosimilar 98.56726
[0234] The use of mixtures improves performance when uncensored
inference is used but may negatively impact performance if censored
inference is used.
Example 20--Glycan Identification with a Database of 7 Candidate
Glycans
[0235] Consider a situation where a database contains 7 candidate
glycans:
TABLE-US-00021 ID Structure 19
Galb1-4GlcNAcb1-6(Galb1-4GlcNAcb1-3)GalNAc 52
GlcNAcb1-2Mana1-6(GlcNAcb1-2Mana1-3)Manb1-4GlcNAcb1- 4GlcNAc 344
GlcNAca1-4Galb1-3 GalNAc 378
Neu5Aca2-3Galb1-4(Fuca1-3)GlcNAcb1-3GalNAc 430
Fuca1-3GlcNAcb1-6(Galb1-4GlcNAcb1-3)Galb1-4Glc 519
GalNAca1-3(Fuca1-2)Galb1-4GlcNAcb1-6GalNAc 534
Neu5Aca2-3Galb1-4(Fuca1-3)GlcNAcb1-2Man
[0236] Additionally, the experiment is performed with 4 affinity
reagents (AR), each of which has a 25% likelihood of binding a
given disaccharide. The other disaccharides these reagents bind to
are not found in any glycan in the database.
[0237] A hit table is constructed for the affinity reagents to each
sequence in the database (Row=affinity reagents #1 to #4, Col=SEQ
ID)
TABLE-US-00022 AR Target 19 52 344 378 430 519 534 Neu5Aca2-3Gal 1
1 GlcNAcb1-2Man 2 1 Fuca1-3GlcNAc 1 1 1 Galb1-4GlcNAc 2 1 1 1 1
[0238] Notably, this information arrives incrementally, and
therefore may be computed iteratively. From the hit table,
P(glycani_|AR_j) is evaluated to generate a probability matrix, as
shown below. Note that for a given entry, if hit table .gtoreq.1,
then use P_landing_AR_n=true landing rate=0.25; else if hit
table=0, use P(detector error)=0.00001.
TABLE-US-00023 19 52 344 378 430 519 534 Neu5Aca2- 1.00E-05
1.00E-05 1.00E-05 0.25 1.00E-05 1.00E-05 0.25 3Gal GlcNAcb1-
1.00E-05 0.25 1.00E-05 1.00E-05 1.00E-05 1.00E-05 0.25 2Man Fuca1-
1.00E-05 1.00E-05 1.00E-05 0.25 0.25 1.00E-05 0.25 3GlcNAc Galb1-
0.25 1.00E-05 1.00E-05 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 4GlcNAc
[0239] Note that many of the cells contain a 0.00001 probability.
This small probability accounts for possible detector error. The
initial, un-normalized probability of a glycan is calculated as the
product of the probabilities for each candidate glycan:
TABLE-US-00024 19 52 344 378 430 519 534 2.5E-16 2.5E-16 1E-20
1.5625E-07 6.25E-12 2.5E-16 0.00390625
[0240] Next, the size normalization is computed, which refers to
the number of ways some number of affinity reagents may land on a
given glycan, as a function of the number of potential binding
sites of the glycan. The size normalization is given by the
Choose(sites_i, n) term. For example, candidate ID 52 has 6
disaccharide sites and a size normalization of [6 choose 4] which
is 15. If there are more binding events than the number of
available disaccharide sites, the size normalization factor is set
to 1. The un-normalized probabilities of each glycan are normalized
to take into account this size correction by dividing by the size
normalization which gives:
TABLE-US-00025 19 52 344 378 430 519 534 2.5E-16 1.6667E-17 1E-20
1.5625E-07 1.25E-12 2.5E-16 0.00390625
[0241] Next, the probabilities are normalized such that the entire
set of probabilities over the entire database sums up to one. This
is achieved by summing the size-normalized probabilities to
0.00390641 and dividing each of the size-normalized probabilities
by this normalization to achieve the final balanced
probabilities:
TABLE-US-00026 19 52 344 378 430 519 534 6.39974E-14 4.2665E-15
2.5599E-18 3.9998E-05 3.1999E-10 6.3997E-14 0.99996
Example 21: Performance of Censored Protein Identification in
Samples Containing Protein Isoforms
[0242] The protein identification approaches described herein may
be applied to samples containing protein isoforms. An isoform of a
canonical protein may refer to a variant of the canonical protein
formed by alternative splicing of the same gene as the canonical
protein or another gene in the same gene family as the canonical
protein. A protein isoform may be structurally similar to the
canonical protein, typically sharing large portions of sequence
with the canonical protein.
[0243] Protein Sample and Affinity Reagents
[0244] To determine the impact of the presence of isoform sequences
on protein identification, an affinity reagent binding analysis was
performed on a collection of proteins consisting of 20,374 unique
canonical human proteins and 21,987 unique isoforms of those
canonical proteins. The canonical proteins and isoform proteins are
those listed in the reference human proteome available as part of
the Uniprot database. Only proteins with the "Swiss-Prot"
designation, used to designate proteins that have been manually
annotated and reviewed, were included in the analysis. The number
of isoforms included for each individual canonical protein ranged
from 0 to 36 isoforms. The mean number of isoforms for a canonical
protein in this set is 1.08. The sample was analyzed using 384
affinity reagent cycles, each cycle measuring binding outcomes of a
unique affinity reagent to each of the proteins in the sample. Each
affinity reagent binds a targeted trimer with a probability of
0.25, and to the four trimers most similar to the targeted trimer
with a probability of 0.25. Other off-target trimers are bound with
a probability of the greater of the quantities 2.45.times.10.sup.-8
and 0.25*1.5.sup.-x where x is the similarity of the off-target
trimer to the trimer target subtracted from the similarity of the
targeted trimer to itself. The similarity between trimer sequences
can be computed by, for example, summing the BLOSUM62 coefficient
for the amino acid pair at each of the three sequence locations.
Affinity reagent trimer targets were selected using a greedy
approach, as described in Example 18, to optimize against the human
proteome.
[0245] Protein Identification Performance Using Unknown Isoform
Sequences
[0246] Censored protein inference was performed on the binding
outcomes from the sample using a database containing only the
sequences for the 20,374 canonical proteins in the protein sample.
Because the database used for protein inference is missing the
sequences of the 21,987 protein isoforms in the sample, the results
of this analysis indicate performance when the sequences of
potential protein isoforms in a sample are not known. With protein
inference performed in this manner, the correct protein family is
identified for 83.9% of the proteins in the sample with a false
discovery rate of 1%. The term "protein family," as used herein,
generally refers to a set of sequences including a canonical
protein sequence and all isoforms of that canonical protein
sequence. The correct protein family for a protein is identified if
the inferred protein identity is within the same protein family as
the protein being analyzed.
[0247] Protein Identification Performance Using Known Isoform
Sequences
[0248] When protein inference was performed using a sequence
database consisting of all of the protein sequences in the sample
(both canonical protein sequences and isoform protein sequences),
the correct protein sequence was identified for 60.9% of the
proteins in the sample with a false discovery rate of 1%. The
correct protein sequence is identified for a protein if the exact
sequence for the protein is identified. Further, the correct
protein family is identified for 89.8% of the proteins in the
sample. The discrepancy between the identification rate of protein
families and of exact protein sequences may arise due to the
difficulty of resolving the identity of a protein between multiple
isoform candidates having similar sequences.
[0249] Protein Identification Performance Using Protein Families
Defined a Priori
[0250] When the grouping of canonical protein sequences and isoform
protein sequences into protein families is known a priori, the
identification rate for protein families may be improved by
calculating protein family probabilities directly. For an
individual protein being measured, the probability of the protein
being a member of the protein family may be calculated by summing
each of the probabilities of the individual protein sequences
comprising the family. The protein family with the highest
probability for the protein being analyzed is assigned as the
protein family identification. When protein family probabilities
are calculated in this manner, the correct protein family is
identified for 97.2% of the proteins in the sample at 1% false
discovery rate. In comparison, the correct protein family is
identified for 89.8% of the proteins in the sample at 1% false
discovery rate, when the protein family probabilities are not
directly calculated.
Example 22: Performance of Censored Protein Identification in
Samples Containing Proteins with Single Amino Acid Variants
(SAVs)
[0251] The protein identification approaches described herein may
be applied to samples containing proteins with single amino acid
variants. A single amino acid variant (SAV) of a canonical protein,
as used herein, generally refers to a variant of the canonical
protein which differs by a single amino acid. Single amino acid
variant proteins may typically arise from missense single
nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the gene encoding the
protein.
[0252] Protein Sample and Affinity Reagents
[0253] To determine the impact of the presence of SAV proteins on
protein identification, an affinity reagent binding analysis was
performed on a collection of proteins consisting of 20,374 unique
canonical human proteins and 12,827 unique SAVs of those canonical
proteins. The canonical proteins are those listed in the reference
human proteome available as part of the Uniprot database. For each
canonical protein, if one or more SAVs for the protein exist in the
SAV database, a randomly chosen SAV is included in the sample. The
SAV database used is the Uniprot human polymorphisms and disease
mutations index. Only proteins with the "Swiss-Prot" designation,
used to designate proteins that have been manually annotated and
reviewed, were included in the analysis. The sample was analyzed
using 384 affinity reagent cycles, each cycle measuring binding
outcomes of a unique affinity reagent to each of the proteins in
the sample. Each affinity reagent binds a targeted trimer with a
probability of 0.25, and to the four trimers most similar to the
targeted trimer with a probability of 0.25. Other off-target
trimers are bound with a probability of the greater of the
quantities 2.45.times.10.sup.-8 and 0.25*1.5.sup.-x where x is the
similarity of the off-target trimer to the trimer target subtracted
from the similarity of the targeted trimer to itself. The
similarity between trimer sequences may be computed by, for
example, summing the BLOSUM62 coefficient for the amino acid pair
at each of the three sequence locations. Affinity reagent trimer
targets were selected using a greedy approach, as described in
Example 18, to optimize against the human proteome.
[0254] Protein Identification Performance Using Known SAV
Sequences
[0255] Censored protein inference was performed on the binding
outcomes from the sample using a database containing only the
sequences for the 20,374 canonical proteins in the protein sample.
Because the database used for protein inference is missing the
sequences of the 12,827 SAV proteins in the sample, the results of
this analysis indicate performance when the sequences of all
potential SAVs in a sample are not known. With protein inference
performed in this manner, the correct SAV protein family is
identified for 96.0% of the proteins in the sample with a false
discovery rate of 1%. The term "SAV protein family," as used
herein, generally refers to set of sequences including a canonical
protein sequence and all SAVs of that canonical protein sequence.
The correct SAV protein family for a protein is identified if the
inferred protein identity is within the same SAV protein family as
the protein being analyzed.
[0256] Protein Identification Performance Using Known SAV
Sequences
[0257] When protein inference was performed using a sequence
database consisting of all of the protein sequences in the sample
(both canonical protein sequences and SAV protein sequences), the
correct protein sequence was identified for 27.1% of the proteins
in the sample with a false discovery rate of 1%. The correct
protein sequence is identified for a protein if the exact sequence
for the protein is identified. Further, the correct SAV protein
family is identified for 96.1% of the proteins in the sample. The
discrepancy between the identification rate of SAV protein families
and of exact protein sequences may arise due to the difficulty of
resolving between the identities of a canonical protein sequence
and of an extremely similar SAV sequence.
[0258] Protein Identification Performance Using SAV Protein
Families Defined a Priori
[0259] The identification rate for SAV protein families may be
improved by calculating SAV protein family probabilities directly.
For an individual protein being measured, the probability of the
protein being a member of a SAV protein family may be calculated by
summing each of the probabilities of the individual protein
sequences comprising the family. The SAV protein family with the
highest probability for the protein being analyzed is assigned as
the SAV protein family identification. When SAV protein family
probabilities are calculated in this manner, the correct SAV
protein family is identified for 96.5% of the proteins in the
sample at 1% false discovery rate. In comparison, the correct SAV
protein family is identified for 96.1% of the proteins in the
sample at 1% false discovery rate when the protein family
probabilities are not directly calculated.
Example 23: Performance of Censored Protein Inference on a Sample
Containing Proteins from a Mixture of Species
[0260] In some cases, a protein sample may comprise proteins from
each of a plurality of species. A protein sample may contain
proteins arising from external sources such as fossils. In some
embodiments, a protein sample may contain proteins that are
synthesized, modified, or engineered, such as a recombinant
protein, or a protein synthesized by in-vitro transcription and
translation. In some embodiments, synthesized, modified, or
engineered proteins may contain non-natural sequences (e.g.,
arising from CRISPR-Cas9 modification or other artificial gene
constructs). Each of the species may be, for example, an animal
such as a mammal (e.g., human, mouse, rat, primate, or simian),
farm animals (production cattle, dairy cattle, poultry, horses,
pigs, and the like), sport animals, companion animals (e.g., pet or
support animals); a plant, a protist, a bacterium, a virus, or an
archeon.
[0261] In this example, a sample from a mouse tumor xenograft model
may comprise substantial amounts of proteins of both mouse and
human origin. To determine the performance of protein inference on
a sample having proteins from a mixture of species on protein
inference, an affinity reagent binding analysis was performed on a
collection of proteins consisting of 2,000 unique mouse proteins
and 2,000 unique human proteins. Both the human proteins and the
mouse proteins were randomly selected from the collection of
canonical Swiss-Prot sequence entries in the Uniprot reference
proteome of the respective species. The sample was analyzed using
384 affinity reagent cycles, each cycle measuring binding outcomes
of a unique affinity reagent to each of the proteins in the sample.
Each affinity reagent binds a targeted trimer with a probability of
0.25, and to the four trimers most similar to the targeted trimer
with a probability of 0.25. Other off-target trimers are bound with
probability the greater of the quantities 2.45.times.10.sup.-8 and
0.25*1.5.sup.-x where x is the similarity of the off-target trimer
to the trimer target subtracted from the similarity of the targeted
trimer to itself. The similarity between trimer sequences may be
computed by, for example, summing the BLOSUM62 coefficient for the
amino acid pair at each of the three sequence locations. Affinity
reagent trimer targets were selected using a greedy approach, as
described in Example 18, to optimize against the human
proteome.
[0262] When protein inference was performed on the mixture sample
using a database containing only the sequences for the candidate
proteins from the human proteome (canonical Swiss-Prot sequence
entries in the Uniprot human reference proteome), the results
showed no identifications of proteins in the sample (e.g., an
identification rate of 0%) below a 1% false discovery rate
threshold. In comparison, when protein inference was performed on
the mixture sample using a database containing the sequences for
the candidate proteins from both the human proteome and the mouse
proteome, 85.3% of the proteins in the sample were identified below
a 1% false discovery rate threshold. This discrepancy in
performance indicates that for a sample containing proteins from
multiple species (e.g., a mixture sample), protein identification
performance is significantly improved when protein inference
analysis is performed using a database containing the sequences for
the candidate proteins from all of the species represented in the
mixture sample.
Example 24: Design of an Affinity Reagent Set Against a Targeted
Panel of Proteins
[0263] A set of affinity reagents may be designed that is optimized
for identification of a specific subset of proteins in a sample.
For example, an optimal collection of affinity reagents can be used
to identify a specific set of target proteins in fewer affinity
reagent binding cycles as compared to using a set optimized for
identification of the entire proteome. In this example, a set of
affinity reagents is generated for optimal identification of 25
human proteins, which are potential biomarkers for clinical
response to cancer immunotherapy treatment. The proteins in the
targeted panel are listed in Table 11.
TABLE-US-00027 TABLE 11 Proteins Included in the Targeted Panel for
Response to Cancer Immunotherapy Category Gene Uniprot Accessions T
cell surface markers CD8A P01732 CD3 P07766; P09693; P20963; P04234
CD2 P06729 CD38 P28907 Cytotoxic factors PRF1 P14222 GZMB P10144
Tissue rejection-related cytokines and CXCL9 Q07325 chemokines
CXCL10 P02778 CXCL2 P19875 CXCL11 O14625 CCL4 P13236 CCL5 P13501
GZMK P49863 PD-1/immune checkpoints PD-L1 Q9NZQ7 JAK2 O60674 PD-L2
Q9BQ51 PD-1 Q15116 CTLA4 P16410 Increased type 1 immunity &
cytotoxic IFNG P01579 cell activity Interleukins IL-12 P29459;
P29460 IL-2 P60568
[0264] To generate a set of affinity reagents optimized for
identification of the complete proteome, a greedy selection
approach, as described in Example 18, was applied. This set of
affinity reagents can be referred to as the "proteome-optimized"
affinity reagent set. To generate a set of affinity reagents
optimized for identification of the proteins in Table 11, a
modified version of step 4) i) in Example 18 is performed, in
which, rather than calculating the score for the candidate affinity
reagent by summing each of the probabilities of the correct protein
identification for each protein determined by protein inference,
the score for the candidate affinity reagent is calculated by
summing each of the probabilities of the correct protein
identification for only the proteins in the targeted panel. This
affinity reagent set can be referred to as the "panel-optimized"
affinity reagent set. The performance of the proteome-optimized and
panel-optimized affinity reagent sets were tested on a human
proteome sample containing every unique, canonical protein in the
Swiss-Prot human reference proteome from Uniprot (20,374 proteins).
This sample includes all 25 of the proteins in the target panel.
Both affinity reagents sets were used to analyze the protein
sample, and censored inference used to generate protein
identifications for every protein in the sample.
[0265] The number of targeted panel proteins identified by the
proteome-optimized and panel-optimized affinity reagent sets is
indicated in Table 12. For a targeted panel protein to be counted
as a successful identification, it must be present in the list of
all proteins identified in the sample at a false discovery rate
below 1%. Identification was performed with varying number of
affinity reagent cycles. For example, 150 affinity reagent cycles
indicates that protein inference was performed on a dataset
comprising analysis with the first 150 affinity reagents from
either the proteome-optimized or panel-optimized set, with each
affinity reagent analyzed in an individual cycle.
TABLE-US-00028 TABLE 12 Protein Identification Performance for
Target Panel of 25 Target Proteins Target Panel Proteins Target
Panel Proteins Number of Affinity Identified (Proteome- Identified
(Panel- Reagent Cycles Optimized Reagents) Optimized Reagents) 50 0
0 100 1 3 150 10 9 200 18 19 250 19 24 300 20 24 350 22 24 384 23
24
[0266] The results shown in Table 12 indicate that application of
the panel-optimized affinity reagents successfully increased the
identification rate of the targeted panel proteins. The percentage
of all proteins identified at a false discovery rate below 1% for
both the panel-optimized and proteome-optimized affinity reagent
sets are indicated in Table 13.
TABLE-US-00029 TABLE 13 Protein Identification Performance for All
Proteins in the Sample % of Proteins Identified % of Proteins
Identified in Sample in Sample Number of Affinity
(Proteome-Optimized (Panel-Optimized Reagent Cycles Reagents)
Reagents) 50 0 0 100 3.1 0.1 150 43.4 4.7 200 78.9 34.4 250 89.2
65.6 300 93.0 77.5 350 94.8 84.2 384 95.7 87.0
[0267] The results shown in Table 13 indicate that a
panel-optimized affinity reagent set can be generated to improve
the performance of identifying a set of proteins in a specific
targeted panel. However, a tradeoff may be encountered, wherein the
resulting panel-optimized affinity reagent set may be sub-optimal
for identifying proteins outside of the targeted panel, as
indicated by the decreased overall protein identification rate of
the panel-optimized reagents in Table 13.
Example 25: Performance of Protein Inference Using Detection of
Presence, Count, or Order of Individual Amino Acids
[0268] The protein inference approach described herein may be
applied to measurements of specific amino acids in proteins and
peptides. For example, measurements on a protein may be made which
indicate the presence or absence of an amino acid in a protein or
peptide (binary), the count of an amino acid in a protein or
peptide (count), or the order of amino acids in a protein (order).
In this example, proteins are modified by a series of reactions
which each selectively modify a particular amino acid. Each
reaction of the series of reactions has a reaction efficiency
between 0 and 1, indicating the probability of the reaction
successfully modifying any single amino acid substrate within the
protein. After performing such modification reactions on the
protein sample, the presence or absence of a selectively-modified
amino acid may be detected, the count of a selectively-modified
amino acid may be detected, and/or the order of a particular set of
selectively-modified amino acids within the protein may be
detected.
Detections from Presence and Absence Measurements of Amino
Acids
[0269] To generate protein identifications from a sequence of
binary measurements indicating presence or absence of amino acids,
the probability Pr(amino acid detected present|protein) can be
expressed as 1-(1-R.sub.aa).sup.Caa where R.sub.aa is the reaction
efficiency for the amino acid and Caa is the count of the number of
times the amino acid occurs in the protein. The probability
Pr(amino acid not detected present|protein) can be expressed as
1-Pr(amino acid detected present|protein). If a sequence of
multiple amino acid detection measurements is made, the
probabilities may be multiplied to determine the probability of the
complete set of N measurements given a candidate protein, as
expressed by:
Pr(outcome set|protein)=Pr(measurement outcome for amino
acid1|protein)*Pr(measurement outcome for amino acid2|protein)* . .
. Pr(measurement outcome for amino acidN|protein).
[0270] The probability of a particular candidate protein being the
correct identification for the protein being measured can be
expressed as
Pr ( outcome set|candidate protein ) i = 1 P Pr ( outcome set|
protein i ) ##EQU00016##
where .SIGMA..sub.i=1.sup.P Pr(outcome set|protein.sub.i) is the
sum of the probabilities of the outcome set for each possible
protein in the protein sequence database consisting of P proteins.
Detections from Count Measurements of Amino Acids
[0271] To generate protein identifications from a sequence of count
measurements of amino acids, the probability Pr(amino acid count
measurement|protein) can be expressed as
( R aa ) M * ( 1 - R aa ) Caa - M * ( Caa M ) ##EQU00017##
where R.sub.aa is the reaction efficiency for the amino acid, Caa
is the count of the number of times the amino acid occurs in the
protein, and M is the measured count for the amino acid in the
protein. If M>Caa, a probability of 0 is returned. If a sequence
of multiple amino acid count measurements is made, the
probabilities may be multiplied to determine the probability of the
complete set of N measurements given a candidate protein, as
expressed by:
Pr(outcome set|protein)=Pr(measurement outcome for amino
acid1|protein)*Pr(measurement outcome for amino acid2|protein)* . .
. Pr(measurement outcome for amino acidN|protein).
[0272] The probability of a particular candidate protein being the
correct identification for the protein being measured can be
expressed as
Pr ( outcome set|candidate protein ) i = 1 P Pr ( outcome set|
protein i ) ##EQU00018##
where .SIGMA..sub.i=1.sup.P Pr(outcome set|protein.sub.i) is the
sum of the probabilities of the outcome set for each possible
protein in the protein sequence database consisting of P proteins.
Detections from Order Measurements of Amino Acids
[0273] In some embodiments, an order of selectively-modified amino
acids in a protein may be measured. For example, a protein with
sequence TINYPRTEIN may generate a measurement outcome ININ if
amino acids I and N are modified and measured. Similarly, the same
protein may generate a measurement outcome INN, or IIN, in cases
where a subset of amino acid modifications and/or measurements is
not successful. The probability Pr(measurement outcome|protein) can
be expressed as Pr(aa_counts|protein)*NUMORDER. The
Pr(aa_counts|protein)=.PI..sub.i=1.sup.i=L(R.sub.aai).sup.Mi*(1-R.sub.aai-
).sup.Caai-Mi where R.sub.aai is the reaction efficiency for amino
acid i, M.sub.i is the number of times the amino acid i was
measured (e.g., in a measurement outcome of INN, N was measured 2
times), C.sub.aai is the number of times amino acid i occurs in the
sequence of the candidate protein, and amino acids 1 to L are all
unique amino acids measured in the protein (e.g., I and N, for
measurement outcome ININ). If the number of counts measured for any
particular amino acid is greater than the number of times that
amino acid occurs in the protein candidate sequence, then the
probability Pr(aa_counts|protein) is set to zero. NUMORDER is the
number of ways a particular outcome can be generated from the
protein sequence. For example, the measurement outcome of IN can be
generated from the protein TINYPRTEIN in the following ways:
{TINYPRTEIN, TINYPRTEIN, TINYPRTEIN}, so NUMORDER is 3 for this
particular outcome and protein sequence. Note that NUMORDER has a
value of zero in cases where it is not possible to generate a
particular outcome from a protein (for example, the measurement
outcome of INNI cannot be generated from the protein TINYPRTEIN).
The probability of a particular candidate protein being the correct
identification for the protein being measured can be expressed
as
Pr ( measurement outcome|candidate protein ) i = 1 P Pr (
measurement outcome| protein i ) ##EQU00019##
where .SIGMA..sub.i=1.sup.P Pr(measurement outcome|protein.sub.i)
is the sum of the probabilities of the measurement outcome for each
possible protein in the protein sequence database consisting of P
proteins. In cases where .SIGMA..sub.i=1.sup.PPr(measurement
outcome|protein.sub.i) is equal to zero, the probability of the
candidate protein is set to zero.
[0274] The performance of protein identification using a collection
of reagents for selective modification and detection of amino acids
K, D, C, and W is illustrated in FIG. 22 and Table 14. The
reactions are performed with varying efficiency, as indicated on
the x-axis. The detection modality (either "binary," "count," or
"order," indicating detection of presence or absence of amino
acids, counts of amino acids, or order of amino acids,
respectively) is indicated by the shade of each bar. The height of
each bar indicates the percent of proteins in the sample identified
with a false discovery rate below 1%. The sample measured was a
human protein sample containing 1,000 proteins. The results
indicate that a substantial number of proteins can be identified
using measurements of order of amino acids with a reaction
efficiency of 0.9 or higher. If measurements of counts of amino
acids are used, a substantial number of proteins can be identified
with a reaction efficiency of 0.99 or higher. In none of the tested
scenarios was measurement of presence or absence of amino acids
sufficient to generate protein detections.
TABLE-US-00030 TABLE 14 Protein Identification Performance using
Selective Modification and Detection of 4 Amino Acids (K, D, C, and
W) Experiment Reaction Experiment Name Type Sensitivity Efficiency
KDWC Binary 0.5 binary 0 0.5 KDWC Count 0.5 count 1 0.5 KDWC Order
0.5 order 58.1 0.5 KDWC Binary 0.9 binary 0 0.9 KDWC Count 0.9
count 10.1 0.9 KDWC Order 0.9 order 94.9 0.9 KDWC Binary 0.99
binary 0 0.99 KDWC Count 0.99 count 76.4 0.99 KDWC Order 0.99 order
95.4 0.99 KDWC Binary 0.999 binary 0 0.999 KDWC Count 0.999 count
92.2 0.999 KDWC Order 0.999 order 95.2 0.999
[0275] As shown in FIG. 23, the collection of reagents for
selective modification and detection of amino acids was expanded to
include the 20 amino acids R, H, K, D, E, S, T, N, Q, C, G, P, A,
V, I, L, M, F, Y, and W. The detection modality is indicated by the
line shade, and the reaction efficiency is indicated on the x-axis.
The y-axis indicates the percent of proteins identified with a
false discovery rate below 1% in the sample.
[0276] The results shown in FIG. 23 and Table 15 indicate that such
a collection of reagents is very effective at protein
identification if reaction efficiency is greater than about 0.6 and
measurements of counts of amino acids are used. However, only a
small percentage of proteins is ever identified if measurements of
presence or absence of amino acids are used instead of measurements
of counts of amino acids.
TABLE-US-00031 TABLE 15 Protein Identification Performance using
Selective Modification and Detection of 20 Amino Acids (R, H, K, D,
E, S, T, N, Q, C, G, P, A, V, I, L, M, F, Y, and W) Experiment
Reaction Experiment Name Type Sensitivity Efficiency All Res Binary
0.1 binary 0 0.1 All Res Count 0.1 count 3.2 0.1 All Res Binary 0.2
binary 0.1 0.2 All Res Count 0.2 count 7.3 0.2 All Res Binary 0.3
binary 0.5 0.3 All Res Count 0.3 count 21.1 0.3 All Res Binary 0.4
binary 0.4 0.4 All Res Count 0.4 count 44.7 0.4 All Res Binary 0.5
binary 0.8 0.5 All Res Count 0.5 count 74.6 0.5 All Res Binary 0.6
binary 1.2 0.6 All Res Count 0.6 count 92.4 0.6 All Res Binary 0.7
binary 1.7 0.7 All Res Count 0.7 count 97.1 0.7 All Res Binary 0.8
binary 1.9 0.8 All Res Count 0.8 count 98.6 0.8 All Res Binary 0.9
binary 2.5 0.9 All Res Count 0.9 count 99.9 0.9
[0277] FIG. 24 illustrates the performance of protein
identification using measurements of order of amino acids, where
amino acids are measured with a detection probability (equal to
reaction efficiency) indicated on the x-axis. The y-axis indicates
the percent of proteins in the sample identified with a false
discovery rate below 1%. The experiment was performed with
measurements of order of amino acids measured at the N-terminal 25,
50, 100, or 200 amino acids of each protein, and the candidate
protein sequence database consisted of the first 25, 50, 100, or
200 amino acids, respectively, of each canonical protein sequence
in the Uniprot reference human protein database.
[0278] The performance illustrated in FIG. 24 and Table 16
indicates that, with detection probability of about 0.3, it is
optimal to sequence at least the first 100 amino acids of each
protein. Above a detection probability of about 0.6, sequencing the
first 25 amino acids or more appears to be sufficient.
TABLE-US-00032 TABLE 16 Protein Identification Performance using
Measurements of Order of Amino Acids Detection Sequencing
Experiment Name Experiment Type Sensitivity Probability Length
Sample Order N term 25 order 0.2 0.1 N-terminal 25 (Prob 0.1)
Sample Order N term 50 order 0.5 0.1 N-terminal 50 (Prob 0.1)
Sample Order N term 100 order 5.8 0.1 N-terminal 100 (Prob 0.1)
Sample Order N term 200 order 26 0.1 N-terminal 200 (Prob 0.1)
Sample Order N term 25 order 36.2 0.3 N-terminal 25 (Prob 0.3)
Sample Order N term 50 order 82.1 0.3 N-terminal 50 (Prob 0.3)
Sample Order N term 100 order 96.8 0.3 N-terminal 100 (Prob 0.3)
Sample Order N term 200 order 97.1 0.3 N-terminal 200 (Prob 0.3)
Sample Order N term 25 order 70.5 0.4 N-terminal 25 (Prob 0.4)
Sample Order N term 50 order 96.1 0.4 N-terminal 50 (Prob 0.4)
Sample Order N term 100 order 95.8 0.4 N-terminal 100 (Prob 0.4)
Sample Order N term 200 order 100 0.4 N-terminal 200 (Prob 0.4)
Sample Order N term 25 order 85.4 0.5 N-terminal 25 (Prob 0.5)
Sample Order N term 50 order 97.1 0.5 N-terminal 50 (Prob 0.5)
Sample Order N term 100 order 97.2 0.5 N-terminal 100 (Prob 0.5)
Sample Order N term 200 order 99.7 0.5 N-terminal 200 (Prob 0.5)
Sample Order N term 25 order 94.1 0.6 N-terminal 25 (Prob 0.6)
Sample Order N term 50 order 96.5 0.6 N-terminal 50 (Prob 0.6)
Sample Order N term 100 order 99 0.6 N-terminal 100 (Prob 0.6)
Sample Order N term 200 order 100 0.6 N-terminal 200 (Prob 0.6)
Sample Order N term 25 order 94.3 0.7 N-terminal 25 (Prob 0.7)
Sample Order N term 50 order 96.6 0.7 N-terminal 50 (Prob 0.7)
Sample Order N term 100 order 97.5 0.7 N-terminal 100 (Prob 0.7)
Sample Order N term 200 order 100 0.7 N-terminal 200 (Prob 0.7)
[0279] FIG. 25 illustrates the performance of various approaches on
a tryptic digest of a sample consisting of 1,000 unique human
proteins. The sample contains all fully tryptic peptides of length
greater than 12 with no missed cleavages arising from these
proteins. The dark lines indicate performance when protein
identification is performed using measurements of the order of all
amino acids, which are measured at varying detection probability
(equivalent to reaction efficiency). The light lines indicate
performance when only the order of amino acids K, D, W, and C are
measured at varying detection probability (equivalent to reaction
efficiency). The sequence database used for inference contains the
sequences of every fully tryptic peptide with length greater than
12 with no missed cleavages arising from these proteins, derived
from every canonical protein sequence in the human reference
proteome database downloaded from Uniprot. The solid lines indicate
the percentage of peptides in the sample identified at a false
discovery rate below 1%. The dashed lines indicate the percentage
of proteins in the sample identified at a false discovery rate
below 1%. A protein is identified if a peptide with sequence unique
to that protein is identified at a false discovery rate below 1%.
These results indicate that measuring the order of just amino acids
K, D, W, and C may not be sufficient for protein detection from a
tryptic digest sample. Further, measuring the order of all amino
acids with a detection probability (equivalent to reaction
efficiency) at or above about 0.5 is sufficient to identify the
majority of proteins in a tryptic digest.
Computer Control Systems
[0280] The present disclosure provides computer control systems
that are programmed to implement methods of the disclosure. FIG. 10
shows a computer system 1001 that is programmed or otherwise
configured to: receive information of empirical measurements of
unknown proteins in a sample, compare information of empirical
measurements against a database comprising a plurality of protein
sequences corresponding to candidate proteins, generate
probabilities of a candidate protein generating the observed
measurement outcome set, and/or generate probabilities that
candidate proteins are correctly identified in the sample.
[0281] The computer system 1001 can regulate various aspects of
methods and systems of the present disclosure, such as, for
example, receiving information of empirical measurements of unknown
proteins in a sample, comparing information of empirical
measurements against a database comprising a plurality of protein
sequences corresponding to candidate proteins, generating
probabilities of a candidate protein generating the observed
measurement outcome set, and/or generating probabilities that
candidate proteins are correctly identified in the sample.
[0282] The computer system 1001 can be an electronic device of a
user or a computer system that is remotely located with respect to
the electronic device. The electronic device can be a mobile
electronic device. The computer system 1001 includes a central
processing unit (CPU, also "processor" and "computer processor"
herein) 1005, which can be a single core or multi core processor,
or a plurality of processors for parallel processing. The computer
system 1001 also includes memory or memory location 1010 (e.g.,
random-access memory, read-only memory, flash memory), electronic
storage unit 1015 (e.g., hard disk), communication interface 1020
(e.g., network adapter) for communicating with one or more other
systems, and peripheral devices 1025, such as cache, other memory,
data storage and/or electronic display adapters. The memory 1010,
storage unit 1015, interface 1020 and peripheral devices 1025 are
in communication with the CPU 1005 through a communication bus
(solid lines), such as a motherboard. The storage unit 1015 can be
a data storage unit (or data repository) for storing data. The
computer system 1001 can be operatively coupled to a computer
network ("network") 1030 with the aid of the communication
interface 1020. The network 1030 can be the Internet, an internet
and/or extranet, or an intranet and/or extranet that is in
communication with the Internet. The network 1030 in some cases is
a telecommunication and/or data network. The network 1030 can
include one or more computer servers, which can enable distributed
computing, such as cloud computing. For example, one or more
computer servers may enable cloud computing over the network 1030
("the cloud") to perform various aspects of analysis, calculation,
and generation of the present disclosure, such as, for example,
receiving information of empirical measurements of unknown proteins
in a sample, comparing information of empirical measurements
against a database comprising a plurality of protein sequences
corresponding to candidate proteins, generating probabilities of a
candidate protein generating the observed measurement outcome set,
and/or generating probabilities that candidate proteins are
correctly identified in the sample. Such cloud computing may be
provided by cloud computing platforms such as, for example, Amazon
Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, and IBM
cloud. The network 1030, in some cases with the aid of the computer
system 1001, can implement a peer-to-peer network, which may enable
devices coupled to the computer system 1001 to behave as a client
or a server.
[0283] The CPU 1005 can execute a sequence of machine-readable
instructions, which can be embodied in a program or software. The
instructions may be stored in a memory location, such as the memory
1010. The instructions can be directed to the CPU 1005, which can
subsequently program or otherwise configure the CPU 1005 to
implement methods of the present disclosure. Examples of operations
performed by the CPU 1005 can include fetch, decode, execute, and
writeback.
[0284] The CPU 1005 can be part of a circuit, such as an integrated
circuit. One or more other components of the system 1001 can be
included in the circuit. In some cases, the circuit is an
application specific integrated circuit (ASIC).
[0285] The storage unit 1015 can store files, such as drivers,
libraries and saved programs. The storage unit 1015 can store user
data, e.g., user preferences and user programs. The computer system
1001 in some cases can include one or more additional data storage
units that are external to the computer system 1001, such as
located on a remote server that is in communication with the
computer system 1001 through an intranet or the Internet.
[0286] The computer system 1001 can communicate with one or more
remote computer systems through the network 1030. For instance, the
computer system 1001 can communicate with a remote computer system
of a user. Examples of remote computer systems include personal
computers (e.g., portable PC), slate or tablet PC's (e.g.,
Apple.RTM. iPad, Samsung.RTM. Galaxy Tab), telephones, Smart phones
(e.g., Apple.RTM. iPhone, Android-enabled device, Blackberry.RTM.),
or personal digital assistants. The user can access the computer
system 1001 via the network 1030.
[0287] Methods as described herein can be implemented by way of
machine (e.g., computer processor) executable code stored on an
electronic storage location of the computer system 1001, such as,
for example, on the memory 1010 or electronic storage unit 1015.
The machine executable or machine readable code can be provided in
the form of software. During use, the code can be executed by the
processor 1005. In some cases, the code can be retrieved from the
storage unit 1015 and stored on the memory 1010 for ready access by
the processor 1005. In some situations, the electronic storage unit
1015 can be precluded, and machine-executable instructions are
stored on memory 1010.
[0288] The code can be pre-compiled and configured for use with a
machine having a processor adapted to execute the code, or can be
compiled during runtime. The code can be supplied in a programming
language that can be selected to enable the code to execute in a
pre-compiled or as-compiled fashion.
[0289] Aspects of the systems and methods provided herein, such as
the computer system 1001, can be embodied in programming. Various
aspects of the technology may be thought of as "products" or
"articles of manufacture" typically in the form of machine (or
processor) executable code and/or associated data that is carried
on or embodied in a type of machine readable medium.
Machine-executable code can be stored on an electronic storage
unit, such as memory (e.g., read-only memory, random-access memory,
flash memory) or a hard disk. "Storage" type media can include any
or all of the tangible memory of the computers, processors or the
like, or associated modules thereof, such as various semiconductor
memories, tape drives, disk drives and the like, which may provide
non-transitory storage at any time for the software programming.
All or portions of the software may at times be communicated
through the Internet or various other telecommunication networks.
Such communications, for example, may enable loading of the
software from one computer or processor into another, for example,
from a management server or host computer into the computer
platform of an application server. Thus, another type of media that
may bear the software elements includes optical, electrical and
electromagnetic waves, such as used across physical interfaces
between local devices, through wired and optical landline networks
and over various air-links. The physical elements that carry such
waves, such as wired or wireless links, optical links or the like,
also may be considered as media bearing the software. As used
herein, unless restricted to non-transitory, tangible "storage"
media, terms such as computer or machine "readable medium" refer to
any medium that participates in providing instructions to a
processor for execution.
[0290] Hence, a machine readable medium, such as
computer-executable code, may take many forms, including but not
limited to, a tangible storage medium, a carrier wave medium or
physical transmission medium. Non-volatile storage media include,
for example, optical or magnetic disks, such as any of the storage
devices in any computer(s) or the like, such as may be used to
implement the databases, etc. shown in the drawings. Volatile
storage media include dynamic memory, such as main memory of such a
computer platform. Tangible transmission media include coaxial
cables; copper wire and fiber optics, including the wires that
comprise a bus within a computer system. Carrier-wave transmission
media may take the form of electric or electromagnetic signals, or
acoustic or light waves such as those generated during radio
frequency (RF) and infrared (IR) data communications. Common forms
of computer-readable media therefore include for example: a floppy
disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magnetic
medium, a CD-ROM, DVD or DVD-ROM, any other optical medium, punch
cards paper tape, any other physical storage medium with patterns
of holes, a RAM, a ROM, a PROM and EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, any other
memory chip or cartridge, a carrier wave transporting data or
instructions, cables or links transporting such a carrier wave, or
any other medium from which a computer may read programming code
and/or data. Many of these forms of computer readable media may be
involved in carrying one or more sequences of one or more
instructions to a processor for execution.
[0291] The computer system 1001 can include or be in communication
with an electronic display 1035 that comprises a user interface
(UI) 1040 for providing, for example, user selection of algorithms,
binding measurement data, candidate proteins, and databases.
Examples of UIs include, without limitation, a graphical user
interface (GUI) and web-based user interface.
[0292] Methods and systems of the present disclosure can be
implemented by way of one or more algorithms. An algorithm can be
implemented by way of software upon execution by the central
processing unit 1005. The algorithm can, for example, receive
information of empirical measurements of unknown proteins in a
sample, compare information of empirical measurements against a
database comprising a plurality of protein sequences corresponding
to candidate proteins, generate probabilities of a candidate
protein generating the observed measurement outcome set, and/or
generate probabilities that candidate proteins are correctly
identified in the sample.
[0293] While preferred embodiments of the present invention have
been shown and described herein, it will be obvious to those
skilled in the art that such embodiments are provided by way of
example only. It is not intended that the invention be limited by
the specific examples provided within the specification. While the
invention has been described with reference to the aforementioned
specification, the descriptions and illustrations of the
embodiments herein are not meant to be construed in a limiting
sense. Numerous variations, changes, and substitutions will now
occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the
invention. Furthermore, it shall be understood that all aspects of
the invention are not limited to the specific depictions,
configurations or relative proportions set forth herein which
depend upon a variety of conditions and variables. It should be
understood that various alternatives to the embodiments of the
invention described herein may be employed in practicing the
invention. It is therefore contemplated that the invention shall
also cover any such alternatives, modifications, variations or
equivalents. It is intended that the following claims define the
scope of the invention and that methods and structures within the
scope of these claims and their equivalents be covered thereby.
* * * * *
References