Mass spectrometry, peptide sequence

As each resin bead contains only a single molecule the beads can be screened individually for bioactivity by either screening for activity of bound peptide in the biological assay or by cleaving the resultant peptide from the bead before undertaking the bioanalysis. The identity of any active compounds can then be determined by using mass spectrometry to sequence the active peptide. 

L. Ngoka and M. L. Gross, Multistep tandem mass spectrometry for sequencing cyclic peptides in an ion-trap mass spectrometer, J. Am. Soc. Mass Spectrom. 

Figure 2. Peptide maps (A-C) and MALDI-TOF mass spectra (D-F) of PVDF-bound transferrin (53 pmol) digested with trypsin in the presence of 50 pi of 1% RTX-100/10% acetonitrile/100 mM Tris, pH 8.0 (A,D), 1% octylglucopyranoside/10% acetonitrile/100 mM Tris, pH 8.0 (B,E), and 1% decylglucopyranoside/10% acetonitrile/100 mM Tris, pH 8.0 (CJF) as described in Materials and Methods. Ninety percent of the digestion was analyzed by HPLC ( 29 pmol based on Table I) and 0.5% ( 150 fmol) was used for MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. Peptides 1 and 2 in A-C were amino terminally sequenced (Table II) and analyzed by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry (Figure 3).

As for all synthetic products to be tested in biological systems, a careful analytical characterization of peptide libraries is crucial in order to confirm their identity and establish their quality. Compared to individual peptides, however, the analysis of peptide libraries is complicated due to the fact that the peptides are either bound to a solid support or arranged in highly complex mixtures. This poses certain restrictions on which analytical methods can be used to characterize combinatorial libraries. For example, analytical methods that are based on the separation of product components, such as high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and capillary electrophoresis (CE), are only of limited use for the analysis of peptide libraries, in particular of those made up of complex nnixtures (>100 peptides per mixture). The analytical methods beneficially applicable to peptide libraries include amino acid analysis, mass spectrometry, and sequencing. 

Mass spectrometry sequencing of oligonucleotides is not as common a practice as it is for proteins and peptides. However, the following mass spectrometry-based sequence determination strategies have gained acceptance ... 

See also Capillary Electrophoresis Overview. Chir-optical Analysis. Liquid Chromatography Column Technology Mobile Phase Selection Reversed Phase Instrumentation Amino Acids. Mass Spectrometry Peptides and Proteins. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Techniques Nuclear Overhauser Effect. Proteins Traditional Methods of Sequence Determination Foods. 

E Peptide Sequencing Using Mass Spectrometry and Sequence Databases... 

However, interpretation of, or even obtaining, the mass spectrum of a peptide can be difficult, and many techniques have been introduced to overcome such difficulties. These techniques include modifying the side chains in the peptide and protecting the N- and C-terminals by special groups. Despite many advances made by these approaches, it is not always easy to read the sequence from the mass spectrum because some amide bond cleavages are less easy than others and give little information. To overcome this problem, tandem mass spectrometry has been applied to this dry approach to peptide sequencing with considerable success. Further, electrospray ionization has been used to determine the molecular masses of proteins and peptides with unprecedented accuracy. 

Tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) produces precise structural or sequence information by selective and specific induced fragmentation on samples up to several thousand Daltons. For samples of greater molecular mass than this, an enzyme digest will usually produce several peptides of molecular mass suitable for sequencing by mass spectrometry. The smaller sequences can be used to deduce the sequence of the whole protein. 

Mass spectral fragmentation patterns of alkyl and phenyl hydantoins have been investigated by means of labeling techniques (28—30), and similar studies have also been carried out for thiohydantoins (31,32). In all cases, breakdown of the hydantoin ring occurs by a-ftssion at C-4 with concomitant loss of carbon monoxide and an isocyanate molecule. In the case of aryl derivatives, the ease of formation of Ar—NCO is related to the electronic properties of the aryl ring substituents (33). Mass spectrometry has been used for identification of the phenylthiohydantoin derivatives formed from amino acids during peptide sequence determination by the Edman method (34). 

With the identities and amounts of amino acids known, the peptide is sequenced to find out in what order the amino acids are linked together. Much peptide sequencing is now done by mass spectrometry, using either electrospray ionization (ESI) or matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) linked to a time-of-flight (TOF) mass analyzer, as described in Section 12.4. Also in common use is a chemical method of peptide sequencing called the Edman degradation. 

Tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) is a method for obtaining sequence and structural information by measurement of the mass-to-charge ratios of ionized molecules before and after dissociation reactions within a mass spectrometer which consists essentially of two mass spectrometers in tandem. In the first step, precursor ions are selected for further fragmentation by energy impact and interaction with a collision gas. The generated product ions can be analyzed by a second scan step. MS/MS measurements of peptides can be performed using electrospray or matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization in combination with triple quadruple, ion trap, quadrupole-TOF (time-of-flight), TOF-TOF or ion cyclotron resonance MS. Tandem... 

Like peptide oligomers, peptoids can be analyzed by HPLC and by mass spectrometry. They can be sequenced by Fdman degradation [13] or by tandem mass spectrometry [14] since, like polypeptides, they conveniently fragment along the main chain amides [15, 16]. 

Repeated addition of MDC to Q11 did occur, but the dominant product was Q11 with a single MDC. The fraction of Qll with higher numbers of attached MDC decreased for increasing MDC number. Separately, a lysine peptide that contained the bioactive RGD [73] sequence ( -dansyl-GLKGGRGDS-Am) was successfully TGase crosslinked with self-assembled Qll five distinct Qll-dansyl RGD were detected by mass spectrometry. 

Complex peptide mixmres can now be analyzed without prior purification by tandem mass spectrometry, which employs the equivalent of two mass spectrometers linked in series. The first spectrometer separates individual peptides based upon their differences in mass. By adjusting the field strength of the first magnet, a single peptide can be directed into the second mass spectrometer, where fragments are generated and their masses determined. As the sensitivity and versatility of mass spectrometry continue to increase, it is displacing Edman sequencers for the direct analysis of protein primary strucmre. 

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