Comparison of vacuum matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) and atmospheric pressure MALDI (AP-MALDI) tandem mass spectrometry of 2-dimensional separated and trypsin-digested glomerular proteins for database search derived identification.

Mass spectrometric based sequencing of enzymatic generated peptides is widely used to obtain specific sequence tags allowing the unambiguous identification of proteins. In the present study, two types of desorption/ionization techniques combined with different modes of ion dissociation, namely vacuum matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (vMALDI) high energy collision induced dissociation (CID) and post-source decay (PSD) as well as atmospheric pressure (AP)-MALDI low energy CID, were applied for the fragmentation of singly protonated peptide ions, which were derived from two-dimensional separated, silver-stained and trypsin-digested hydrophilic as well as hydrophobic glomerular proteins. Thereby, defined properties of the individual fragmentation pattern generated by the specified modes could be observed. Furthermore, the compatibility of the varying PSD and CID (MS/MS) data with database search derived identification using two public accessible search algorithms has been evaluated. The peptide sequence tag information obtained by PSD and high energy CID enabled in the majority of cases an unambiguous identification. In contrast, part of the data obtained by low energy CID were not assignable using similar search parameters and therefore no clear results were obtainable. The knowledge of the properties of available MALDI-based fragmentation techniques presents an important factor for data interpretation using public accessible search algorithms and moreover for the identification of two-dimensional gel separated proteins.

Comparison of CID spectra of singly charged polypeptide antibiotic precursor ions obtained by positive-ion vacuum MALDI IT/RTOF and TOF/RTOF, AP-MALDI-IT and ESI-IT mass spectrometry.

Various classes of polypeptide antibiotics, including blocked linear peptides (gramicidin D), side-chain-cyclized peptides (bacitracin, viomycin, capreomycin), side-chain-cyclized depsipeptides (virginiamycin S), real cyclic peptides (tyrocidin, gramcidin S) and side-chain-cyclized lipopeptides (polymyxin B and E, amfomycin), were investigated by low-energy collision induced dissociation (LE-CID) as well as high-energy CID (HE-CID). Ion trap (IT) based instruments with different desorption/ionization techniques such as electrospray ionization (ESI), atmospheric pressure matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (AP-MALDI) and vacuum MALDI (vMALDI) as well as a vMALDI-time-of-flight (TOF)/curved field-reflectron instrument fitted with a gas collision cell were used. For optimum comparability of data from different IT instruments, the CID conditions were standardized and only singly charged precursor ions were considered. Additionally, HE-CID data obtained from the TOF-based instrument were acquired and compared with LE-CID data from ITs. Major differences between trap-based and TOF-based CID data are that the latter data set lacks abundant additional loss of small neutrals (e.g. ammonia, water) but contains product ions down to the immonium-ion-type region, thereby allowing the detection of even single amino-acid (even unusual amino acids) substitutions. For several polypeptide antibiotics, mass spectrometric as well as tandem mass spectrometric data are shown and discussed for the first time, and some yet undescribed minor components are also reported. De novo sequencing of unusually linked minor components of (e.g. cyclic) polypeptides is practically impossible without knowledge of the exact structure and fragmentation behavior of the major components. Finally, the described standardized CID condition constitutes a basic prerequisite for creating a searchable, annotated MS(n)-database of bioactive compounds. The applied desorption/ionization techniques showed no significant influence on the type of product ions (neglecting relative abundances of product ions formed) observed, and therefore the type of analyzer connected with the CID process mainly determines the type of fragment ions.

Dissociation of biomolecules using a ultraviolet matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation time-of-flight/curved field reflectron tandem mass spectrometer equipped with a differential-pumped collision cell.

A commercial matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation time-of-flight (MALDI-ToF) instrument equipped with a curved field reflectron (CFR) was modified in order to perform collision-induced dissociation (CID) on a variety of biomolecules. The incorporation of a high-resolution ion gate together with a collision cell within the field-free region allowed tandem mass analysis (MS/MS), without the necessity to decelerate the precursor ions prior to activation. The simultaneous detection of all product ions remained possible by using the CFR. To test the MS/MS performances, ACTH (fragment 1-17), a complex high mannose carbohydrate (Man)(8)(GlcNac)(2) and a lysophosphatidylcholine lipid (18:1) were analysed on the modified instrument. Direct comparison with the low-energy product ion spectra, acquired on a MALDI quadrupole ion trap (QIT) two-stage reflectron time-of flight (ReToF) mass spectrometer, showed significant differences in the types of product ions observed. The additional ions detected were a clear indication of the high-energy fragmentation processes occurring in the collision cell.

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization- quadrupole ion trap-time of flight mass spectrometry sequencing resolves structures of unidentified peptides obtained by in-gel tryptic digestion of haptoglobin derivatives from human plasma proteomes.

Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis-separated and excised haptoglobin alpha2-chain protein spots were subjected to in-gel digestion with trypsin. Previously unassigned peptide ion signals observed in mass spectrometric fingerprinting experiments were sequenced using the matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-quadrupole ion trap-time of flight (MALDI-QIT-TOF) mass spectrometer and showed that the haptoglobin alpha-chain derivative under study was cleaved by trypsin unspecifically. Abundant cleavages occurred C-terminal to histidine residues at H23, H28, and H87. In addition, mild acidic hydrolysis leading to cleavage after aspartic acid residues at D13 was observed. The uninterpreted tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) spectrum of the peptide with ion signal at 2620.19 was submitted to database search and yielded the identification of the corresponding peptide sequence comprising amino acids (aa) aa65-87 from the haptoglobin alpha-chain protein. Also, the presence of a mixture of two tryptic peptides (mass to charge ratio m/z 1708.8; aa40-54, and aa99-113, respectively), that is caused by a tiny sequence variation between the two repeats in the haptoglobin alpha2-chain protein was resolved by MS/MS fragmentation using the MALDI-QIT-TOF mass spectrometer instrument. Advantageous features such as (i) easy parent ion creation, (ii) minimal sample consumption, and (iii) real collision induced dissociation conditions, were combined successfully to determine the amino acid sequences of the previously unassigned peptides. Hence, the novel mass spectrometric sequencing method applied here has proven effective for identification of distinct molecular protein structures.