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bioRxiv · 10.64898/2026.09.08.749775

Site-resolved spatial and structural interactome of a human cell

Zhang, Z.·Yokoyama, N.·Zhu, Y.·Ruta, J.·Cheng, J.·Natalia, V.·Soykan, T.·Haucke, V.·Liu, F.
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Abstract

The spatial and structural arrangement of proteins determine virtually every process in human cells. We combined gentle subcellular fractionation by differential ultracentrifugation with cross-linking mass spectrometry to systematically map this cellular proteome architecture with residue-level evidence, identifying 164,146 residue-to-residue links in HEK293 cells. These links capture spatial protein arrangement at a resolution sufficient to pinpoint protein localizations at sub-organelle level, determine protein orientations within cellular membranes, and identify inter-organelle contact sites. The residue-level information provides evidence for 18,074 direct protein-protein interactions (PPIs), which we integrate into AlphaFold-based pipelines to nominate PPI-mediating short linear motifs and generate assembly models of large protein complexes. Guided by these spatial and structural readouts, we discover new PPIs within the endomembrane system that regulate the compartmental localization of trafficking machinery. Leveraging a network topology-driven strategy, we augment our HEK293 dataset with PPI data from different cell lines and methods, expanding the spatial and structural interactome of human cells.

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Zhang, Z., Yokoyama, N., Zhu, Y., Ruta, J., Cheng, J., Natalia, V., Soykan, T., Haucke, V., Liu, F.. 2026-09-14. Site-resolved spatial and structural interactome of a human cell. https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.09.08.749775

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