A Set of Organelle-Localizable Reactive Molecules for Mitochondrial Chemical Proteomics in Living Cells and Brain Tissues

Protein functions are tightly regulated by their subcellular localization in live cells, and quantitative evaluation of dynamically altered proteomes in each organelle should provide valuable information. Here, we describe a novel method for organelle-focused chemical proteomics using spatially limited reactions. In this work, mitochondria-localizable reactive molecules (MRMs) were designed that penetrate biomembranes and spontaneously concentrate in mitochondria, where protein labeling is facilitated by the condensation effect. The combination of this selective labeling and liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS) based proteomics technology facilitated identification of mitochondrial proteomes and the profile of the intrinsic reactivity of amino acids tethered to proteins expressed in live cultured cells, primary neurons and brain slices. Furthermore, quantitative profiling of mitochondrial proteins whose expression levels change significantly during an oxidant-induced apoptotic process was performed by combination of this MRMs-based method with a standard quantitative MS technique (SILAC: stable isotope labeling by amino acids in cell culture). The use of a set of MRMs represents a powerful tool for chemical proteomics to elucidate mitochondria-associated biological events and diseases.