THRONCAT: Efficient metabolic labeling of newly synthesized proteins using a bioorthogonal threonine analog

Profiling the nascent cellular proteome and capturing early proteomic changes in response to external stimuli provides valuable insight into cellular physiology. Existing metabolic protein labeling approaches based on bioorthogonal methionine-or puromycin analogs allow for the selective visualization and enrichment of the newly synthesized proteins. However, their applications are limited as they require methionine-free conditions, auxotrophic cells and/or are toxic to cells. Here, we introduce THRONCAT, a novel threonine-derived non-canonical amino acid tagging method based on bioorthogonal threonine analog {beta}-ethynylserine ({beta}ES) that enables efficient and non-toxic labeling of the nascent proteome in complete growth media within minutes. We used THRONCAT for the visualization and enrichment of nascent proteins in bacteria, mammalian cells and Drosophila melanogaster. We profiled immediate proteome dynamics of Ramos B-cells in response to receptor activation, demonstrating the ease-of-use of the method and its potential to address diverse biological questions. In addition, using a Drosophila model of Charcot-Marie-Tooth peripheral neuropathy, we show that THRONCAT enables visualization and quantification of relative protein synthesis rates in vivo.