Collisionally activated dissociation of supercharged proteins formed by electrospray ionization

The dissociation of protein ions formed by ESI ranging in size from 12 to 29 kDa using sustained off-resonance irradiation collisional activation was investigated as a function of charge state in a 9.4-T Fourier transform mass spectrometer. Addition of m-nitrobenzyl alcohol to denaturing solutions of proteins was used to form very high charge states of protein ions for these experiments. For all proteins in this study, activation of the highest charge state results in a single dominant backbone cleavage, often with less abundant cleavages at the neighboring 3-5 residues. This surprising phenomenon may be useful for the "top-down" identification of proteins by producing sequence tags with optimum sensitivity. There is a slight preference for cleavage adjacent to acidic residues and proline. Solution-phase secondary structure does not appear to play a significant role. The very limited dissociation channels observed for the supercharged ions may be due, in part, to the locations of the charges on the protein.     

Phosphopeptide/phosphoprotein mapping by electron capture dissociation mass spectrometry

Of methods for dissociation of multiply charged peptide and protein ions, electron capture dissociation (ECD) has the advantages of cleaving between a high proportion of amino acids, without loss of such posttranslational modifications as glycosylation and carboxylation. Here this capability is successfully extended to phosphorylation, for which collisionally activated dissociation (CAD) can cause extensive loss of H3PO4 and HPO3. As shown here, these losses are minimal in ECD spectra, an advantage for measuring the degree of phosphorylation. For phosphorylated peptides, ECD and CAD spectra give complementary backbone cleavages for identifying modification sites. For a 24-kDa heterogeneous phosphoprotein, bovine beta-casein, activated ion ECD cleaved 87 of 208 backbone bonds that identified a phosphorylation site at Ser-15, and localized three more among Ser-17,-18, -19, and -22 and Thr-24, and the last among four other sites. This is the first direct site-specific characterization of this key post-translational modification on a protein without its prior degradation, such as proteolysis.     

High-sensitivity electron capture dissociation tandem FTICR mass spectrometry of microelectrosprayed peptides

Electron capture dissociation (ECD) has previously been shown by other research groups to result in greater peptide sequence coverage than other ion dissociation techniques and to localize labile posttranslational modifications. Here, ECD has been achieved for 10-13-mer peptides microelectrosprayed from 10 nM (10 fmol/microL) solutions and for tryptic peptides from a 50 nM unfractionated digest of a 28-kDa protein. Tandem Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FTICR) mass spectra contain fragment ions corresponding to cleavages at all possible peptide backbone amine bonds, except on the N-terminal side of proline, for substance P and neurotensin. For luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone, all but two expected backbone amine bond cleavages are observed. The tandem FTICR mass spectra of the tryptic peptides contain fragment ions corresponding to cleavages at 6 of 12 (1545.7-Da peptide) and 8 of 21 (2944.5-Da peptide) expected backbone amine bonds. The present sensitivity is 200-2000 times higher than previously reported. These results show promise for ECD as a tool to produce sequence tags for identification of peptides in complex mixtures available only in limited amounts, as in proteomics.     

Advantages of external accumulation for electron capture dissociation in Fourier transform mass spectrometry

A combination of external accumulation (XA) with electron capture dissociation (ECD) improves the electron capture efficiency, shortens the analysis time, and allows for rapid integration of multiple scans in Fourier transform mass spectrometry. This improves the signal-to-noise ratio and increases the number of detected products, including structurally important MS3 fragments. With XA-ECD, the range of the labile species amenable to ECD is significantly extended. Examples include the first-time determination of the positions of six GalNAc groups in a 60-residue peptide, five sialic acid and six O-linked GalNAc groups in a 25-residue peptide, and the sulfate group position in a 11-residue peptide. Even weakly bound supramolecular aggregates, including nonspecific peptide complexes, can be analyzed with XA-ECD. Preliminary results are reported on high-rate XA-ECD that uses an indirectly heated dispenser cathode as an electron source. This shortens the irradiation time to > or = 1 ms and increases the acquisition rate to 3 scans/s, an improvement by a factor of 10-100.     

Laser-induced electron capture mass spectrometry

Two techniques are reported for detection of electrophorederivatized compounds by laser-induced electron capture time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LI-EC-TOF-MS). In both cases, a nitrogen laser is used to induce the electron capture. The analyte is deposited in a matrix consisting of a compound with a low ionization potential such as benzo[ghi]perylene in the first technique, where the electron for electron capture apparently comes from this matrix. In the second technique, the analyte is deposited on a silver surface in the absence of matrix. It seems that "monoenergetic" ions instantly desorb from the target surface in the latter case, since the peak width in the continuous extraction mode essentially matches the pulse width of the laser (4 ns). Ten picomoles of 3-O-(pentafluorobenzyl)-alpha-estradiol were detected at a S/N > or = 50, where the spot size of the laser was approximately 0.25% of the sample spot. It is attractive that simple conditions can enable sensitive detection of electrophores on routine TOF-MS equipment. The technique can be anticipated to broaden the range of analytes in both polarity and size that can be detected by EC-MS relative to the range for GC/EC-MS.     

Liquid chromatography-atmospheric pressure electron capture dissociation mass spectrometry for the structural analysis of peptides and proteins

Atmospheric pressure electron capture dissociation (AP-ECD) is an emerging technique with the potential to be a more accessible alternative to conventional ECD/electron transfer dissociation (ETD) methods because it can be implemented using a stand-alone ion source device suitable for use with any existing or future electrospray ionization mass spectrometer. With AP-ECD, no modification of the main instrument is required, so it may easily be retrofitted to instruments not originally equipped with ECD/ETD capabilities. Here, we present our first purpose-built AP-ECD source and demonstrate its use in conjunction with capillary LC for the analysis of substance P, a tryptic digest of bovine serum albumin, and a phosphopeptide mixture. Quality ECD spectra were obtained for all the samples at the low femtomole level, proving that LC-AP-ECD-MS is suitable for the structural analysis of peptides and protein digests, in this case using an unmodified quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometer built ca. 2002.     

Plasma electron capture dissociation for the characterization of large proteins by top down mass spectrometry

For the backbone dissociation of large (29 kDa) multiply charged protein ions in the gas phase by electron capture, the main experimental challenges are juxtaposition of the electron and ion for efficient capture, dissociation of tertiary noncovalent bonds that prevent product separation, and minimization of secondary electron capture that destroys larger product ions. A simple alternative methodology is described in which electrons (0.03-100 microA, 0.1-15 eV) are first impinged on a gas pulse in the ion cell of a Fourier transform mass spectrometer, followed by ion beam introduction. For carbonic anhydrase, the resulting plasma conditions produce 87% efficiency for electron capture; a single spectrum yields 512 product ions of 237 different masses from cleavage of 183 of the 258 interresidue bonds, while two spectra cleave 197 of these bonds. The problem of secondary dissociation of product ions is reduced by plasma conditions in which product ions are formed near electrons whose velocities are unfavorable and whose capture cross sections no longer have a square dependence on charge. One plasma ECD spectrum of ubiquitin provides its sequence de novo except for two residue pairs. ECD of casein identifies 126 of 208 interresidue cleavages, providing direct and specific characterization of all its 26 Ser/Thr/Tyr phosphorylation sites.     

Activated ion electron capture dissociation for mass spectral sequencing of larger (42 kDa) proteins

In previous studies, electron capture dissociation (ECD) has been successful only with ionized smaller proteins, cleaving between 33 of the 153 amino acid pairs of a 17 kDa protein. This has been increased to 99 cleavages by colliding the ions with a background gas while subjecting them to electron capture. Presumably this ion activation breaks intramolecular noncovalent bonds of the ion's secondary and tertiary structure that otherwise prevent separation of the products from the nonergodic ECD cleavage of a backbone covalent bond. In comparison to collisionally activated dissociation, this "activated ion" (AI) ECD provides more extensive, and complementary, sequence information. AI ECD effected cleavage of 116, 60, and 47, respectively, backbone bonds in 29, 30, and 42 kDa proteins to provide extensive contiguous sequence information on both termini; AI conditions are being sought to denature the center portion of these large ions. This accurate "sequence tag" information could potentially identify individual proteins in mixtures at far lower sample levels than methods requiring prior proteolysis.     

Energy-dependent electron activated dissociation of metal-adducted permethylated oligosaccharides

The effects of varying the electron energy and cationizing agents on electron activated dissociation (ExD) of metal-adducted oligosaccharides were explored, using permethylated maltoheptaose as the model system. Across the examined range of electron energy, the metal-adducted oligosaccharide exhibited several fragmentation processes, including electron capture dissociation (ECD) at low energies, hot-ECD at intermediate energies, and electronic excitation dissociation (EED) at high energies. The dissociation threshold depended on the metal charge carrier(s), whereas the types and sequence spans of product ions were influenced by the metal-oligosaccharide binding pattern. Theoretical modeling contributed insight into the metal-dependent behavior of carbohydrates during low-energy ECD. When ExD was applied to a permethylated high mannose N-linked glycan, EED provided more structural information than either collision-induced dissociation (CID) or low-energy ECD, thus demonstrating its potential for oligosaccharide linkage analysis.     

Detecting deamidation products in proteins by electron capture dissociation

A nonenzymatic posttranslational modification of proteins and peptides is the spontaneous deamidation of asparaginyl residues via a succinimide intermediate to form a varying mixture of aspartyl and isoaspartyl residues. The isoaspartyl residue is generally difficult to detect particularly using mass spectrometry because isoaspartic acid is isomeric with aspartic acid so that there is no mass difference. However, electron capture dissociation has demonstrated the ability to differentiate the two isoforms in synthetic peptides using unique diagnostic ions for each form; the cr. + 58 and z(l-r) - 57 fragment ions for the isoAsp form and the Asp side chain loss ((M + nH)(n-1)+. - 60) for the Asp form. Shown here are three examples of isoaspartyl detection in peptides from proteins; a deamidated tryptic peptide of cytochrome c, a tryptic peptide from unfolded and deamidated ribonuclease A, and a tryptic peptide from calmodulin deamidated in its native state. In all cases, the cr. + 58 and z(l-r) - 57 ions allowed the detection and localization of isoaspartyl residues to positions previously occupied by asparaginyl residues. The (M + nH)(n-1)+. - 60 ions were also detected, indicating the presence of aspartyl residues. Observation of these diagnostic ions in peptides from proteins shows that the method is applicable to defining the isomerization state of deamidated proteins.     

Localization of O-glycosylation sites in peptides by electron capture dissociation in a Fourier transform mass spectrometer.

The novel technique electron capture dissociation (ECD) of electrospray generated [M + nH]n+ polypeptide cations produces rapid cleavage of the backbone NH-Ca bond to form c and z ions (in the modified notation of Roepstorff and Fohlman). The potential of the Fourier transform mass spectrometry equipped with ECD in structure analysis of O-glycosylated peptides in the 3 kDa range has been investigated. Totally, 85% of the available interresidue bonds were cleaved in five glycopeptides; more stable c ions accounted for 62% of the observed fragmentation. The c series provided direct evidence on the glycosylation sites in every case studied, with no glycan (GalNAc and dimannose) losses observed from these species. Less stable z ions supported the glycan site assignment, with minor glycan detachments. These losses, as well as the observed formation of even-electron z ions, are attributed to radical-site-initiated reactions. In favorable cases, complete sequence and glycan position information is obtained from a single-scan spectrum. The "mild" character of ECD supports the previously proposed non-ergodic (cleavage prior to energy randomization) mechanism, and the low internal energy increment of fragments.     

Structural interrogation of electrosprayed peptide ions by gas-phase H/D exchange and electron capture dissociation mass spectrometry

The structural characterization of gaseous biomolecular ions remains a challenging task. Here, we employ a combination of gas-phase hydrogen-deuterium exchange (HDX) and electron capture dissociation (ECD) mass spectrometry for gaining insights into the properties of two electrosprayed peptides: RA(9)K and RG(9)K. Mass analysis of ECD fragments provides spatially resolved labeling information. ND(3)-mediated HDX at peptide termini and amino acid side chains goes to completion within 1 s. Backbone amide labeling occurs more slowly, and proceeds in a structurally sensitive fashion. HDX is more extensive for RG(9)K than for RA(9)K, suggesting a more "open" conformation for the former. Residues 7-10 in RA(9)K are strongly protected, which indicates the presence of stable backbone hydrogen bonds at these sites. Our findings are consistent with the results of previous ion mobility measurements and computational investigations. Overall, it appears that the combination of gas-phase HDX and ECD represents a viable approach for uncovering structural features of biomolecular ions in the gas phase.     

Internal bremsstrahlung in electron capture and neutrino mass

The possibility that neutrinos have mass is a topic of considerable interest. One group has found evidence that neutrinos have a mass in excess of 30 eV. Another investigation has found that a small percentage of neutrinos have a mass of 17.1 keV. Other investigations have not supported these conclusions. In internal bremsstrahlung in electron capture (IBEC), electron capture is accompanied by photon emission. In principle IBEC can be used to determine the neutrino mass and to investigate the possibility that a small percentage of neutrinos are heavy. The contributions of IBEC to both questions will be reviewed.     

Side-chain losses in electron capture dissociation to improve peptide identification

Analysis of a database of some 20 000 conventional electron-capture dissociation (ECD) mass spectra of doubly charged ions belonging to tryptic peptides revealed widespread appearance of w ions and related u ions that are due to partial side chain losses from radical z* ions. Half of all z* ions that begin with Leu or Ile produce w ions in conventional one-scan ECD mass spectra, which differentiates these isomeric residues with >97% reliability. Other residues exhibiting equally frequent side chain losses are Gln, Glu, Asp, and Met (cysteine was not included in this work). Unexpectedly, Asp lost not a radical group like other amino acids but a molecule CO2, thus giving rise to a radical w* ion with the possibility of a radical cascade. Losses from amino acids as distant as seven residues away from the cleavage site were detected. The mechanism of such losses seems to be related to radical migration from the original site at the alphaCn atom in a zn* ion to other alphaC and betaC atoms. The side chain losses confirm sequence assignment, improve the database matching score, and can be useful in de novo sequencing.     

Electron capture dissociation in a digital ion trap mass spectrometer

Electron capture dissociation was implemented in a digital ion trap without using any magnetic field to focus the electrons. Since rectangular waveforms are employed in the DIT for both trapping and dipole excitation, electrons can be injected into the trap when the electric field is constant. Following deceleration, electrons reach the precursor ion cloud. The fragment ions produced by interactions with the electron beam are subsequently analyzed by resonant ejection. [Glu(1)]-Fibrinopeptide B and substance P were used to evaluate the performance of the current design. Fragmentation efficiency of 5.5% was observed for substance P peptide ions. Additionally, analysis of the monophosphorylated peptide FQ[pS]EEQQQTEDELQDK shows that in the resulting c- and z-type ions, the phosphate group is retained on the phophoserine residue, providing information on which amino acid residue the modification is located.     

Characterization of o-sulfopeptides by negative ion mode tandem mass spectrometry: superior performance of negative ion electron capture dissociation

Positive ion mode collision-activated dissociation tandem mass spectrometry (CAD MS/MS) of O-sulfopeptides precludes determination of sulfonated sites due to facile proton-driven loss of the highly labile sulfonate groups. A previously proposed method for localizing peptide and protein O-sulfonation involves derivatization of nonsulfonated tyrosines followed by positive ion CAD MS/MS of the corresponding modified sulfopeptides for diagnostic sulfonate loss. This indirect method relies upon specific and complete derivatization of nonsulfonated tyrosines. Alternative MS/MS activation methods, including positive ion metastable atom-activated dissociation (MAD) and metal-assisted electron transfer dissociation (ETD) or electron capture dissociation (ECD) provide varying degrees of sulfonate retention. Sulfonate retention has also been reported following negative ion MAD and electron detachment dissociation (EDD), which also operates in negative ion mode in which sulfonate groups are less labile than in positive ion mode. However, an MS/MS activation technique that can effectively preserve sulfonate groups while providing extensive backbone fragmentation (translating to sequence information, including sulfonated sites) with little to no noninformative small molecule neutral loss has not previously been realized. Here, we report that negative ion CAD, EDD, and negative ETD (NETD) result in sulfonate retention mainly at higher charge states with varying degrees of fragmentation efficiency and sequence coverage. Similar to previous observations from CAD of sulfonated glycosaminoglycan anions, higher charge states translate to a higher probability of deprotonation at the sulfonate groups thus yielding charge-localized fragmentation without loss of the sulfonate groups. However, consequently, higher sulfonate retention comes at the price of lower sequence coverage in negative ion CAD. Fragmentation efficiency/sequence coverage averaged 19/6% and 33/20% in EDD and NETD, respectively, both of which are only applicable to multiply-charged anions. In contrast, the recently introduced negative ion ECD showed an average fragmentation efficiency of 69% and an average sequence coverage of 82% with complete sulfonate retention from singly- and doubly-deprotonated sulfopeptide anions.     

Determination of peptide topology through time-resolved double-resonance under electron capture dissociation conditions

Characterizing the conformation of biomolecules by mass spectrometry still represents a challenge. With their knotted structure involving a N-terminal macrolactam ring where the C-terminal tail of the peptide is threaded and sterically trapped, lasso peptides constitute an attractive model for developing methods for characterizing gas-phase conformation, through comparison with their unknotted topoisomers. Here, the kinetics of electron capture dissociation (ECD) of a lasso peptide, capistruin, was investigated by electrospray ionization-Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry and compared to that of its branched-cyclic topoisomer, lactam-capistruin. Both peptides produced rather similar ECD spectra but showed different extent of H(?) transfer from c(i)' to z(j)(?) ions. Time-resolved double-resonance experiments under ECD conditions were performed to measure the formation rate constants of typical product ions. Such experiments showed that certain product ions, in particular those related to H(?) transfer, proceeded through long-lived complexes for capistruin, while fast dissociation processes predominated for lactam-capistruin. The formation rate constants of specific ECD product ions enabled a clear differentiation of the lasso and branched-cyclic topoisomers. These results indicate that the formation kinetics of ECD product ions constitute a new way to explore the conformation of biomolecules and distinguish between topoisomers and, more generally, conformers.     

Combined electron capture and infrared multiphoton dissociation for multistage MS/MS in a Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer

We have mounted a permanent on-axis dispenser cathode electron source inside the magnet bore of a 9.4-T Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer. This configuration allows electron capture dissociation (ECD) to be performed reliably on a millisecond time scale. We have also implemented an off-axis laser geometry that enables simultaneous access to ECD and infrared multiphoton dissociation (IRMPD). Optimum performance of both fragmentation techniques is maintained. The analytical utility of performing either ECD or IRMPD on a given precursor ion population is demonstrated by structural characterization of several posttranslationally modified peptides: IRMPD of phosphorylated peptides results in few backbone (b- and y-type) cleavages, and product ion spectra are dominated by neutral loss of H3PO4. In contrast, ECD provides significantly more backbone (c- and z*-type) cleavages without loss of H3PO4. For N-glycosylated tryptic peptides, IRMPD causes extensive cleavage of the glycosidic bonds, providing structural information about the glycans. ECD cleaves all backbone bonds (except the N-terminal side of proline) in a 3-kDa glycopeptide with no saccharide loss. However, only a charge-reduced radical species and some side chain losses are observed following ECD of a 5-kDa glycopeptide from the same protein. An MS3 experiment involving IR laser irradiation of the charge-reduced species formed by electron capture results in extensive dissociation into c- and z-type fragment ions. Mass-selective external ion accumulation is essential for the structural characterization of these low-abundance (modified) peptides.     

Localization of intramolecular monosulfide bridges in lantibiotics determined with electron capture induced dissociation

Electron capture induced dissociation (ECD) and collisionally activated dissociation (CAD) experiments were performed on four lanthionine bridge-containing antibiotics. ECD of lantibiotics produced mainly c and z* ions, as has been observed previously with other peptides, but more interestingly, the less common c* and z ions were observed in abundance in the ECD spectra. These fragments specifically resulted from the cleavage of both a backbone amine bond and the thioether bond in a lanthionine bridge. ECD seemed to induce mainly cleavages near the lanthionine bridges. This fragmentation pattern indicates that lanthionine bridges play a key role in the selectivity of the ECD process. A new mechanism is postulated describing the formation of c* and z ions. Comparative low-energy CAD did not show such specificity. Nondissociative ECD products were quite abundant, suggesting that relatively stable double and triple radicals can be formed in the ECD process. Our results suggest that ECD can be used as a tool to identify the C-terminal attachment site of lanthionine bridges in newly discovered lantibiotics.