Mass spectrometric characterization of proteins extracted from Jurkat T cell detergent‐resistant membrane domains

Plasma membranes of most cell types are thought to contain microdomains commonly referred to as lipid rafts, biochemically distinct from bulk plasma membrane, apparently enriched for proteins involved in signal transduction. In T cells, it is believed that lipid rafts aggregate at the site of T cell receptor engagement and act as foci for initiation of the signaling process. In order to gain insight into the possible functioning of lipid rafts, we applied microcapillary liquid chromatography electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (νLC‐ESI‐MS/MS) methodologies to the identification of proteins which copurified with lipid rafts. Following isolation of lipid rafts as Triton‐insoluble, low‐density membrane fractions from Jurkat T cells, tryptic digests were generated of individual protein bands resolved electrophoretically. Alternatively, cysteine‐containing peptides were isolated from total tryptic digests of unseparated lipid raft proteins following labeling with a cysteine‐specific biotinylation reagent and avidin affinity purification. In both cases, protein identifications were made by comparison of tandem MS spectra generated by νLC‐ESI‐MS/MS to both protein and DNA sequence databases using Sequest software. Proteins identified essentially fell into two groups: cytoskeletal proteins, and proteins involved in signal transduction. These findings are discussed in the light of the current understanding of both lipid raft biology and signal transduction.