CNBr/formic acid reactions of methionine- and trifluoromethionine-containing lambda lysozyme: probing chemical and positional reactivity and formylation side reactions by mass spectrometry

The cyanogen bromide (CNBr)/formic acid cleavage reactions of wild-type and trifluoromethionine (TFM)-containing recombinant lambda lysozyme were studied utilizing ESI and MALDI mass spectrometry. Detailed analysis of the mass spectra of reverse-phase HPLC-purified cleavage fragments produced from treatment of the wild-type and labeled proteins with CNBr indicated cleavage solely of methionyl peptide bonds with no observation of cleavage at TFM. N-Acetyl-TFM was also found to be resistant to reaction with CNBr, in contrast to N-acetyl-methionine. The analysis also indicated differential reactivity among the three methionine positions in the wild-type enzyme. Additionally, formylation of intact enzyme as well as peptide fragments were observed and characterized and indicated that serine, threonine, as well as C-terminal homoserine side chains are partially formylated under standard cleavage protocols.