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Confident identification of the glycan moieties in glycopeptides by collision-induced dissociation (CID) requires accurate prediction of the CID spectrum of the glycopeptides. In this Article, the kinetic model for the prediction of peptide CID spectra is extended to predict the CID spectra of N-glycopeptides. The model was trained with 1831 ion-trap CID spectra of N-glycopeptides and is able to predict ion-trap CID spectra with excellent accuracy in ion intensities for N-glycopeptides up to 8000 u in mass. A total of 524 common glycoforms including complex N-glycans with 2-4 antennas, plus high-mannose type and hybrid type, can be predicted. 10.1021/ac102359u

An empirical model, based on classic kinetics, was developed for quantitative prediction of electron-transfer dissociation (ETD) and electron-capture dissociation (ECD) spectra of peptides. The model includes most fragmentation pathways described in the literature plus some additional pathways based on the author's assumptions and observations. The ETD model was trained with more than 7000 ETD spectra, with and without supplemental activation. The ECD model was trained with more than 6000 ECD spectra. The trained ETD and ECD models are able to predict ETD and ECD spectra with reasonable accuracy in ion intensities for peptide precursors up to 4000 u in mass. 10.1021/ac902733z

Covalent modifications on therapeutic proteins are traditionally monitored by chromatographic techniques, which quantify limited number of protein modifications at a time. In this report, computer algorithms for automated analyses of liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) data for large-scale identification and quantification of known and unknown modifications are described. Peptide identification is achieved by comparing the experimental fragmentation spectrum to the predicted spectrum of each native or modified peptide. Peak areas of related peptide ions under their selected-ion chromatograms (SIC) are used for relative quantification of modified peptides. A matched window function is used to generate SIC for more reliable quantification. In an LC/ MS/MS analysis of a tryptic digestion of an IgG2 monoclonal antibody, 1712 peptide ions were identified with a false-discovery rate of ~0.4%, and 227 modifications were identified and quantified. The accuracy of the mass spectrometry-based quantification is evaluated by comparing the abundance of different glycoforms determined by mass spectrometry to that determined by a fluorescence-based chromatography method. This large-scale method may potentially replace many chromatographic methods for assessing the quality attributes of therapeutic proteins. 10.1021/ac901193n

A technique for rapid characterization of variable regions of monoclonal antibodies (mAb) is described. Several intact mAbs were analyzed on a Thermo-Fisher LTQ-Orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometer (MS) by insource fragmentation. In-source fragmentation has the unique advantage of fragmenting all charge states of a protein at the same time and, thus, greatly improves the sensitivity of the fragment ions over a true MS/MS experiment, where a single charge state is isolated and fragmented. In addition, immediate fragmentation of the protein before tertiary structure formation may also facilitate protein fragmentation. This technique has been proved very useful for top-down analysis of large proteins. In-source fragmentation of mAbs generated a series of fragment ions. In addition to some small b and y ions from the light chain and heavy chain in the low m/z region, a series of b ions corresponding to N-terminal 106-120 residues of both heavy chain and light chain were observed. The cleavage sites for these b ions happen to be near the linker regions between the variable domains and the constant domains of these antibodies. These b ions, therefore, correspond to the entire variable region of each chain. Similar results were obtained for all mAbs analyzed, including both immunoglobulin G1 and G2 molecules. To further characterize the variable regions, these b ions were isolated and fragmented by collision-induced dissociation in the linear trap, followed by mass analysis in the orbitrap. Large number of product ions was observed from these b ions. Many of these product ions are internal fragments between the two disulfide-linked cysteine residues. To demonstrate the capability of the technique, several mAbs were force-oxidized by treating with tert-butyl hydroperoxide, followed by mass spectrometric analysis. In-source fragmentation and MS/MS of the variable region b ions clearly identified the locations of the oxidized methionine.

Mass spectrometry-based de novo peptide sequencing is generally more reliable on high-resolution instruments owing to their high resolution and mass accuracy. On a lower resolution instrument such as the more widely used quadrupole ion traps, de novo peptide sequencing is not so reliable or requires more M[S.sup.3] experiments. However, the peptide CID spectrum has been demonstrated to be quite reproducible on an ion trap instrument and can be predicted with good accuracy. A new de novo peptide sequencing technique, DACSIM, combining a divide-and-conquer algorithm for deriving sequence candidates and spectrum simulation for sequence refinement, is developed for spectra acquired on an ion trap instrument. When DACSIM was used to sequence peptides 500--1900 u in mass generated from proteolytic digests of hemoglobin and myoglobin, the success rate was 70% with a false positive rate of only 6%, when isoleucine and leucine residues were not distinguished.

A kinetic model, based on the 'mobile proton' model of peptide fragmentation, was developed to quantitatively simulate the low-energy collision-induced dissociation (CID) spectra of peptides dissociated in a quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometer. The model includes most fragmentation pathways described in the literature, plus some additional pathways based on the author's observations. The model was trained by optimizing parameters within the model for predictions of CID spectra of known peptides. A best set of parameters was optimized to obtain best match between the simulated spectra and the experimental spectra in a training data set. The performance of the mathematical model and the associated optimized parameter set used in the CID spectra simulation was evaluated by generating predictions for a large number of known peptides, which were not included in the training data set. It was shown that the model is able to predict peptide CID spectra with reasonable accuracy in fragment ion intensities for both singly and doubly charged peptide parent ions up to 2000 u in mass. The optimized parameter set was evaluated to gain insight into the collision-induced peptide fragmentation process.

A novel concept of two-dimensional fragment correlation mass spectrometry and its application to peptide sequencing is described. The daughter ion (MS(super 2)) spectrum of a peptide contains the sequence information of the peptide. However, deciphering the MS(super 2) spectrum, and thus deriving the peptide sequence is complex because of the difficulty in distinguishing the N-terminal fragments (e.g., b series) from the C-terminal fragments (e.g., y series). By taking a granddaughter ion (MS(super 3)) spectrum of a particular daughter ion, all fragment ions of the opposite terminus are eliminated in the MS(super 3) spectrum. However, some internal fragments of the peptide will appear in the MS(super 3) spectrum. Because internal fragments are rarely present in the MS(super 2) spectrmn, the intersection (a spectrum containing peaks that are present in both spectra) of the MS(super 2) and MS(super 3) spectra should contain only fragments of the same terminal type. A two-dimensional plot of the MS(super 2) spectrum versus the intersection spectra (2-D fragment correlation mass spectrum) often gives enough information to derive the complete sequence of a peptide. This paper describes this novel technique and its application in sequencing cytochrome c and apomyoglobin. For a tryptic digest of cytochrome c, approximately 78% of the protein sequence was determined. For the Glu-C/tryptic digest of apomyoglobin, approximately 66% of the protein sequence was determined.

To get an accurate spectrum across a chromatographic peak when analyzing data collected from a chromatography/spectroscopy experiment such as liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry, it is often necessary to sum or average the spectra collected across the chromatographic peak. A common practice is to sum the spectra collected across the entire duration of the chromatographic peak. However, this practice is not ideal in terms of optimizing the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of the sum spectrum. In most instances, the spectral signals may be so weak at the earlier and later ends of the chromatographic peak that summing these spectra into the sum spectrum may decrease its overall S/N. This report describes some simple guidelines and methods to analyze data collected by a chromatography/spectroscopy system to achieve the maximum S/N from the available data. More specifically, to achieve a better SN when summing spectra within one chromatographic peak, only the spectra whose relative abundance is above 38% should be included. To achieve the maximum possible S/N, a matched filter should be applied to the data before the spectra are summed.

Presents information on the study that described some simple guidelines and methods to analyze data collected by a chromatography/spectroscopy system. Range of spectra selected to sum; Numerical equation; Theoretical background; Data analysis.

A novel photo-oxidative cross-linking between two histidines (His-His) has been discovered and characterized in an IgG1 antibody via the workflow of XChem-Finder, (18)O labeling and mass spectrometry (Anal. Chem. 2013, 85, 5900-5908). Its structure was elucidated by peptide mapping with multiple proteases with various specificities (e.g., trypsin, Asp-N, and GluC combined with trypsin or Asp-N) and mass spectrometry with complementary fragmentation modes (e.g., collision-induced dissociation (CID) and electron-transfer dissociation (ETD)). Our data indicated that cross-linking occurred across two identical conserved histidine residues on two separate heavy chains in the hinge region, which is highly flexible and solvent accessible. On the basis of model studies with short peptides, it has been proposed that singlet oxygen reacts with the histidyl imidazole ring to form an endoperoxide and then converted to the 2-oxo-histidine (2-oxo-His) and His+32 intermediates, the latter is subject to a nucleophilic attack by the unmodified histidine; and finally, elimination of a water molecule leads to the final adduct with a net mass increase of 14 Da. Our findings are consistent with this mechanism. Successful discovery of cross-linked His-His again demonstrates the broad applicability and utility of our XChem-Finder approach in the discovery and elucidation of protein cross-linking, particularly without a priori knowledge of the chemical nature and site of cross-linking.