Application of Nanomaterials to Separation of Phosphorylated Proteins

Abstract

Phosphorylation is a widespread and significant protein post-translational modification in organism, which participates in many complex biological processes. Whereas mass spectrometry (MS) with high sensitivity, high accurate, high throughput has been the most powerful tool in phosphorylated proteomics research, it is offset in the identification and characterization of phosphorylated peptides due to the low abundance and poor ionization efficiency. For improving this, different nanomaterials have been developed in recent years. This chapter gives detailed description on the preparation and application of immobilized metal affinity chromatography (IMAC)-based nanomaterials, metal oxide affinity chromatography (MOAC)-based nanomaterials and amine-based nanomaterials in separation of phosphorylated proteins prior to MS detection. Particularly, in addition to the separation of global phosphorylated proteome, the separation of mono and multi-phosphorylated peptides are also carried out. Moreover, the common problems and solutions in phosphorylated proteomics research are also discussed