Mass spectrometry (MS)-based denaturing top-down proteomics (dTDP) identify proteoforms without pretreatment of enzyme proteolysis. A universal sample preparation method that can efficiently extract protein, reduce sample loss, maintain protein solubility, and be compatible with following up liquid-phase separation, MS, and tandem MS (MS/MS) is vital for large-scale proteoform characterization. Membrane ultrafiltration (MU) was employed here for buffer exchange to efficiently remove the sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) detergent in protein samples used for protein extraction and solubilization, followed by capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE)-MS/MS analysis. The MU method showed good protein recovery, minimum protein bias, and nice compatibility with CZE-MS/MS. Single-shot CZE-MS/MS analysis of an Escherichia coli sample prepared by the MU method identified over 800 proteoforms.
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Capillary Zone Electrophoresis-Electron-Capture Collision-Induced Dissociation on a Quadrupole Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer for Top-Down Characterization of Intact Proteins
Mass spectrometry (MS)-based denaturing top-down proteomics (dTDP) requires high-capacity separation and extensive gas-phase fragmentation of proteoforms. Herein, we coupled capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) to electron-capture collision-induced dissociation (ECciD) on an Agilent 6545 XT quadrupole time-of-flight (Q-TOF) mass spectrometer for dTDP for the first time. During ECciD, the protein ions were first fragmented using ECD, followed by further activation and fragmentation by applying a CID potential. In this pilot study, we optimized the CZE-ECciD method for small proteins (lower than 20 kDa) regarding the charge state of protein parent ions for fragmentation and the CID potential applied to maximize the protein backbone cleavage coverage and the number of sequence-informative fragment ions. The CZE-ECciD Q-TOF platform provided extensive backbone cleavage coverage for three standard proteins lower than 20 kDa from only single charge states in a single CZE-MS/MS run in the targeted MS/MS mode, including ubiquitin (97%, +7, 8.6 kDa), superoxide dismutase (SOD, 87%, +17, 16 kDa), and myoglobin (90%, +16, 17 kDa). The CZE-ECciD method produced comparable cleavage coverage of small proteins (i.e., myoglobin) with direct-infusion MS studies using electron transfer dissociation (ETD), activated ion-ETD, and combinations of ETD and collision-based fragmentation on high-end orbitrap mass spectrometers. The results render CZE-ECciD a new tool for dTDP to enhance both separation and gas-phase fragmentation of proteoforms.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1846913
- PAR ID:
- 10225398
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry
- ISSN:
- 1044-0305
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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