A complete mass spectrometric map for the analysis of the yeast proteome and its application to quantitative trait analysis

Complete reference maps or datasets, like the genomic map of an organism, are highly beneficial tools for biological and biomedical research. Attempts to generate such reference datasets for a proteome so far failed to reach complete proteome coverage, with saturation apparent at approximately two thirds of the proteomes tested, even for the most thoroughly characterized proteomes. Here, we used a strategy based on high-throughput peptide synthesis and mass spectrometry to generate a close to complete reference map (97% of the genome-predicted proteins) of the S. cerevisiae proteome. We generated two versions of this mass spectrometric map one supporting discovery- (shotgun) and the other hypothesis-driven (targeted) proteomic measurements. The two versions of the map, therefore, constitute a complete set of proteomic assays to support most studies performed with contemporary proteomic technologies. The reference libraries can be browsed via a web-based repository and associated navigation tools. To demonstrate the utility of the reference libraries we applied them to a protein quantitative trait locus (pQTL) analysis, which requires measurement of the same peptides over a large number of samples with high precision. Protein measurements over a set of 78 S. cerevisiae strains revealed a complex relationship between independent genetic loci, impacting on the levels of related proteins. Our results suggest that selective pressure favors the acquisition of sets of polymorphisms that maintain the stoichiometry of protein complexes and pathways.