Investigation of calcium-binding proteins using electrospray ionization mass spectrometry.

Abstract

Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) is a soft ionization technique that is rapid and more sensitive than many other available techniques that are used to characterize macromolecules. It is particularly suitable for studying proteins in their native state as the solvent conditions for transferring and ionizing protein molecules from solution to the gas phase can be similar to those used for characterizing proteins in solution. Following a study of myoglobin at the beginning of decade (), there have been a number of reported ESI-MS studies of specific noncovalent protein-ligand complexes. A recent review by Loo provides a thorough list of ESI-MS studies of proteins interacting with metals, small molecules, peptides and proteins, and nucleic acids ().