Liquid Chromatography-electrospray Ion Trap Research Articles

Complete sequencing of anti-vancomycin fab fragment by liquid chromatography–electrospray ion trap mass spectrometry with a combination of database searching and manual interpretation of the MS/MS spectra

Sequencing of anti-vancomycin monoclonal antibody (mAb) Fab region (48,000 Da) was carried out using liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization ion trap mass spectrometry (LC/ESI-MS). Comprehensive strategies were employed to ensure complete sequence coverage. The sequence information was obtained from the spectra of collision-induced dissociation (CID) (MS/MS) of the protonated proteolytic peptides resulting from multiple enzymatic digestions of reduced/ S-carboxymethylated (RCM) light chain and Fd fragment. Database searching of the spectra against the published immunoglobulin G (IgG) sequences allowed the identification of all the peptides in constant domains as well as partial sequences in variable domains. The rest of the sequences were deduced by manual interpretation of the peptide tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) spectra. The analysis showed that the N-terminus of the heavy chain was modified by the conversion of a glutamine residue to pyroglutamic acid.

Study for Catecholamine-2'-Deoxyguanosine Adduct Formation under Biomimetic Conditions Using Liquid Chromatography-Electrospray Ionization-Ion Trap Mass Spectrometry.

The adduct formation of 2'-deoxyguanosine (dG) with L-adrenaline under biomimetic conditions (pH 7.5, 37°C) with or without oxidant (MnO2) was demonstrated in order to clarify the reaction mechanism and the structure. At least two adducts have been observed by liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-ion trap mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-ion trap MS) and LC-photodiode array detection (LC-PAD) (compound a: more polar than dG, m/z 463(M+H)+, λmax: 230, 320 nm; compound b: less polar than dG, m/z 445 (M+H)+, λmax: 220, 240, 320, 405 nm). Compound a appeared only in the early stage of the reaction prior to formation of compound b.

Towards a two-dimensional proteome map of Mycoplasma pneumoniae.

A Proteome map of the bacterium Mycoplasma pneumoniae was constructed using two-dimensional (2-D) gel electrophoresis in combination with mass spectrometry (MS). M. pneumoniae is a human pathogen with a known genome sequence of 816 kbp coding for only 688 open reading frames, and is therefore an ideal model system to explore the scope and limits of the current technology. The soluble protein content of this bacterium grown under standard laboratory conditions was separated by 1-D or 2-D gel electrophoresis applying various pH gradients, different acrylamide concentrations and buffer systems. Proteins were identified using liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization ion trap and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-MS. Mass spectrometric protein identification was supported and controlled using N-terminal sequencing and immunological methods. So far, proteins from about 350 spots were characterized with MS by determining the molecular weights and partial sequences of their tryptic peptides. Comparing these experimental data with the DNA sequence-derived predictions it was possible to assign these 350 proteins to 224 genes. The importance of proteomics for genome analysis was shown by the identification of four proteins, not annotated in the original publication. Although the proteome map is still incomplete, it is already a useful reference for comparative analyses of M. pneumoniae cells grown under modified conditions.

Direct analysis of microcystins by microbore liquid chromatography electrospray ionization ion-trap tandem mass spectrometry

Microcystins are a group of structurally similar cyclic heptapeptide hepatotoxins and tumor promoters, produced by cyanobacteria. A microbore liquid chromatography electrospray ionization ion-trap mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-ITMS) method has been developed which is capable of separating and detecting trace amounts of microcystin variants in environmental samples. Extracted water sample was loaded onto a LC trapping column and, using a column switching technique, the compounds of interest were back-flushed onto a 1-mm LC column. Structural elucidation was achieved using ion-trap with tandem mass spectrometry in the data dependent scan mode. Collision-induced dissociation to MS 3 allowed tentative identification of these cyclic peptides. Full-scan LC-ESI-MS mass spectrum was obtained when 250 pg of the authentic compound was injected onto the HPLC column, which represents the detection limit for microcystin-LR. This study demonstrated that LC-ESI-ITMS is a reliable and sensitive technique for analysing trace levels of microcystins.

Identification of two-dimensional electrophoresis-separated proteins in human hepatoma cell by electrospray ion trap mass spectrometry

As one of the most important analytical methods in proteome research, mass spectrometry was utilized to identify proteins separated by two-dimensional electrophoresis in the human hepatoma cell line BEL-7404. The protein spots were excised from the gel, followed by in-gel digestion, and the peptide mappings were analyzed by liquid chromatography electrospray ion trap mass spectrometer. Nine proteins were identified via database searching, according to the molecular weights and amino acid sequences of peptides, among which two proteins have not been identified in the other liver-cell database. The sequence coverage was 21% –72%. Furthermore, the relationship between the expressed proteins and the liver carcinoma was discussed.