Maribel Solorio-Anguiano

Having access to the proteome can unlock a more direct approach to studying abnormal neural activity due to changes in protein expression. Our tools provide unprecedented access to mapping protein-level changes in response to external stimuli or behaviors.

Various neuropsychiatric disorders have been associated with either a loss or imbalance of proteins. Thus, having access to the proteome can unlock a more direct approach to studying abnormal neural activity due to changes in protein expression. Proximity labeling tools, such as TurboID, allow us to tag proteins in vivo and subsequently identify and quantify thousands of proteins at a subcellular level. We aimed to identify proteomic differences after drug exposure. We used a membrane-bound TurboID to identify proteins in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), which has been shown to play a role in the reward system. We enriched the biotinylated proteins using streptavidin beads and analyzed 3 biological replicates using data independent acquisition proteomics at the UC Davis Proteomics Core (TimsTOF Pro 2; using Spectronaut). We also demonstrate that we can tag and enrich proteins in the PFC of mice treated with a single dose of biotin and cocaine (n=3). Finally, I show data of drug activated neurons tagged using a new calcium dependent split TurboID construct developed in our lab. This work provides a more direct approach at studying subcellular proteomic differences and establishes an opportunity for finding future therapeutic targets.