Peptide mapping using capillary electrophoresis offline coupled to matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time of flight mass spectrometry

This article reports the results of a study carried out to evaluate the offline hyphenation of capillary zone electrophoresis with matrix-assisted lased desorption ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) for the analysis of low-abundant complex samples, represented by the tryptic phosphorylated peptides of phosphoproteins, such as α-casein, β-casein, and fetuin. The proposed method employs a latex-coated capillary and consists in the online preconcentration of the tryptic peptides by a pH-mediated stacking method, their separation by capillary zone electrophoresis, and subsequent deposition of the separated analytes onto a MALDI target for their MS analysis. The online preconcentration method allows loading a large sample volume (～150?nL), which is introduced into the capillary after the hydrodynamic injection of a short plug of 1.0?M ammonium hydroxide solution and is sandwiched between two plugs of the acidic background electrolyte solution (BGE) filling the capillary. The sample spotting of the separated analytes onto the MALDI target is performed either during or postseparation using an automatic spotting device connected to the exit of the separation capillary. The proposed method allows the separation and identification of multiphosphorylated peptides from other peptides and enables their identification at femtomole level with improved efficiency compared with LC approaches hyphenated to MS.     

Nanodiamond-based two-step sampling of multiply and singly phosphorylated peptides for MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry analysis

Simultaneous detection of multiply and singly phosphorylated peptides using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) is challenging because of suppression effects during ionization. In oder to overcome this problem, this study presents a new approach to improve the detection of phosphopeptides by stepwise enrichment using polyarginine-coated (PA-coated) and titanium dioxide-coated (TiO(2)-coated) nanodiamonds for fractionation of multiply and singly phosphorylated peptides prior to on-probe MALDI MS analysis. The feasibility of this approach was demonstrated using synthetic peptides containing different numbers of phosphate groups, tryptic digests of α-casein, β-casein, and complex protein mixtures. The high specificity of the approach is shown in its effective enrichment and fractionation of phosphopeptides from the digest of β-casein and bovine serum albumin at a molar ratio as low as 1 : 1000, which out-performs the commercial Fe(3+)-IMAC and TiO(2) isolation kits. It offers a simple and effective alternative for the fractionation and identification of multiply and singly phosphorylated peptides by MALDI MS and allows for deduction of more information from limited starting materials.     

Zirconium arsenate-modified silica nanoparticles for specific capture of phosphopeptides and direct analysis by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry

In this paper, we report, as far as we are aware, the first use of zirconium arsenate-modified silica nanoparticles (ZrAs-SNPs) for specific capture of phosphopeptides, followed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometric (MALDI MS) analysis. Under the optimized enrichment conditions, the efficiency and specificity of ZrAs-SNPs were evaluated with tryptic digests of four standard proteins (α-casein, β-casein, ovalbumin, and bovine serum albumin) and compared with those of titanium arsenate-modified silica nanoparticles (TiAs-SNPs). The results showed that more selective enrichment of multiply phosphorylated peptides was observed with ZrAs-SNPs than with TiAs-SNPs whereas TiAs-SNPs resulted in slightly better recovery of singly phosphorylated peptides. ZrAs-SNPs were chosen for direct capture of phosphopeptides from diluted human serum of healthy and adenocarcinoma individuals. Our experimental profiling of serum phosphopeptides revealed that the level of phosphorylated fibrinogen peptide A was up-regulated in the serum of adenocarcinoma patients in comparison with healthy adults. This suggests the possibility of using ZrAs-SNPs for discovery of biomarkers of the pathogenesis process of tumors.     

Selective sampling of multiply phosphorylated peptides by capillary electrophoresis for electrospray ionization mass spectrometry analysis

The ionization of phosphorylated peptides in positive ion mode mass spectrometry is generally less efficient compared with the ionization of their non-phosphorylated counterparts. This can make phosphopeptides much more difficult to detect. One way to enhance the detection of phosphorylated proteins and peptides is by selectively isolating these species. Current approaches of phosphopeptide isolation are based on the favorable interactions of phosphate groups with immobilized metals. While these methods can be effective in the extraction, they can lead to incomplete sample recovery, particularly for the most strongly bound multiply phosphorylated components. A non-sorptive method of phosphopeptide isolation using capillary electrophoresis (CE) was recently reported [Zhang et al., Anal. Chem. 77 (2005) 6078]. The relatively low isoelectric points of phosphopeptides cause them to remain anionic at acidic sample pH. Hence, they can be selectively injected into the capillary by an applied field after the electroosmotic flow (EOF) is suppressed. The technique was previously coupled with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS). In this work, the exploitation of selective sampling in conjugation with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) is presented. The transition was not immediately straightforward. A number of major alterations were necessary for ESI interfacing. These adaptations include the choice of a suitable capillary coating for EOF control and the incorporation of organic solvent for efficient ESI. As expected, selective injection of phosphopeptides greatly enhanced the sensitivity of their detection in ESI-MS, particularly for the multiply phosphorylated species that were traditionally most problematic. Furthermore, an electrophoretic separation subsequent to the selective injection of the phosphopeptides was performed prior to analysis by ESI-MS. This allowed us to resolve the multiply phosphorylated peptides present in the samples, predominantly based on the number of phosphorylation sites on the peptides.     

Highly specific enrichment of phosphopeptides by zirconium dioxide nanoparticles for phosphoproteome analysis

Large-scale characterization of phosphoproteins requires highly specific methods for the purification of phosphopeptides because of the low abundance of phosphoproteins and substoichiometry of phosphorylation. A phosphopeptide enrichment method using ZrO2 nanoparticles is presented. The high specificity of this approach was demonstrated by the isolation of phosphopeptides from the digests of model phosphoproteins. The strong affinity of ZrO2 nanoparticles to phosphopeptides enables the specific enrichment of phosphopeptides from a complex peptide mixture in which the abundance of phosphopeptides is two orders of magnitude lower than that of nonphosphopeptides. Superior selectivity of ZrO2 nanoparticles for the enrichment of phosphorylated peptides than that of conventional immobilized metal affinity chromatography was observed. Femtomole phosphopeptides from digestion products could be enriched by ZrO2 nanoparticles and can be well detected by MALDI mass spectrometric analysis. ZrO2 nanoparticles were further applied to selectively isolate phosphopeptides from the tryptic digestion of mouse liver lysate for phosphoproteome analysis by nanoliter LC MS/MS (nano-LC-MS/MS) and MS/MS/MS. A total of 248 defining phosphorylation sites and 140 phosphorylated peptides were identified by manual validation using a series of rigid criteria.     

Isolation of phosphopeptides using zirconium-chlorophosphonazo chelate-modified silica nanoparticles

Due to the low abundance of phosphoproteins and substoichiometry of phosphorylation, the elucidation of protein phosphorylation requires highly specific materials for isolation of phosphopeptides from biological samples prior to mass spectrometric analysis. In this study, chlorophosphonazo type derivatives of chromotropic acid including p-hydroxychlorophosphonazo (HCPA) and chlorophosphonazo I (CPA I), traditionally used in the photometric determination of transition metal ions, have been employed as chelating ligands in the preparation of novel affinity materials for phosphopeptide enrichment. The chromogenic reagents of HCPA and CPA I were chemically modified on the surface of silica nanoparticles, and the functionalized materials were charged with zirconium ions through the strong complexation between chelating ligands and Zr(4+). The obtained zirconium-chlorophosphonazo chelate-modified silica nanoparticles (Zr-HCPA-SNPs and Zr-CPA I-SNPs) were applied to the selective enrichment of phosphopeptides, followed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) analysis. The purification procedures were optimized using α-casein digest at first, and then the performance of these two affinity materials for efficient and specific enrichment of phosphopeptides was evaluated with the tryptic digests of standard proteins (α-casein, β-casein, ovalbumin and bovine serum albumin). It is found that Zr-HCPA-SNPs are superior to Zr-CPA I-SNPs in phosphopeptide enrichment. Using Zr-HCPA-SNPs to trap phosphopeptides in α-casein digest, the detection limit was close to 50fmol based on MALDI-TOF MS analysis. Finally, Zr-HCPA-SNPs were used to directly isolate phosphopeptides from diluted human serum of healthy, diabetes and hypertension persons, respectively. Our results show that the constitution and level of phosphopeptides are remarkably different among the three groups, which indicate the powerful potentials of Zr-HCPA-SNPs in disease diagnosis and biomarker screening.     

Enhanced detection of phosphopeptides in matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry using ammonium salts

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI MS) has been used successfully to detect phosphorylation sites in proteins. Applications may be limited by the low response of phosphopeptides compared to nonphosphorylated peptides in MALDI MS. The addition of ammonium salts to the matrix/analyte solution substantially enhances the signal for phosphopeptides. In examples shown for equimolar mixtures, the phosphorylated peptide peaks become the largest peaks in the spectrum upon ammonium ion addition. This can allow for the identification of phosphopeptides in an unfractionated proteolytic digestion mixture. Sufficient numbers of protonated phosphopeptides can be generated such that they can be subjected to postsource decay analysis, in order to confirm the number of phosphate groups present. The approach works well with the common MALDI matrices such as α-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid and 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid, and with ammonium salts such as diammonium citrate and ammonium acetate.     

C60-fullerene bound silica for the preconcentration and the fractionation of multiphosphorylated peptides

Phosphorylation of proteins is an important cellular regulatory process. The analysis of protein phosphorylation is challenging due to the high dynamic range and low abundance natures of phosphorylated species. Mass spectrometry (MS) of phosphopeptides obtained from tryptic protein digests is the method-of-choice for characterization of phosphorylated proteins. However, determination of phosphopeptides by MS represents a major challenge, especially in the presence of unmodified peptides. Due to lower ionization efficiency of phosphopeptides, as well as the fact that the stoichiometry of phosphorylation is often present at low relative abundance, efficient enrichment of the phosphorylated peptides prior to MS analysis is therefore of high demand. In addition, successful identification of peptides with different phosphorylation grades still remains challenging.     

Highly selective and sensitive enrichment of phosphopeptides via NiO nanoparticles using a microwave-assisted centrifugation on-particle ionization/enrichment approach in MALDI-MS

The strategy to concentrate phosphopeptides has become a critical issue for mapping protein phosphorylation sites, which are well known as posttranslational modifications in proteomics. In this study, we propose a simple and highly sensitive method for phosphopeptide enrichment on NiO nanoparticles (NPs) from a trypsin predigested phosphoprotein complex solution in a microwave oven. Furthermore, this technique was combined with centrifugation on-particle ionization/enrichment of phosphopeptides and phosphopeptides were analyzed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Weak magnetism of these NPs and a positive surface charge effect at low pH accomplished rapid and selective phosphopeptide enrichment within 30s. Trypsin-digested products of phosphoproteins such as α-casein and β-casein, human blood serum, nonfat milk, and egg white were also investigated to explore their phosphopeptide enrichment from complex samples by this approach. The results demonstrate that NiO NPs exhibit good affinity to trace the phosphopeptides even in the presence of 30 times higher molar concentration of complex solution of non-phosphopeptide proteolytic predigested bovine serum albumin. The detection limits of NiO NPs for α-casein and β-casein were 2.0?×?10(-9) M, with good signal-to-noise ratio in the mass spectrum. NiO NPs were found to be effective and selective for enrichment of singly and multiply phosphorylated peptides at a trace level in complex samples in a microwave oven. The cost of preparing NiO NPs is low, the NiO NPs are thermally stable, and therefore, they hold great promise for use in phosphopeptide enrichment.     

A novel titanium dioxide-polydimethylsiloxane plate for phosphopeptide enrichment and mass spectrometry analysis

The phosphorylation of proteins is a major post-translational modification that is required for the regulation of many cellular processes and activities. Mass spectrometry signals of low-abundance phosphorylated peptides are commonly suppressed by the presence of abundant non-phosphorylated peptides. Therefore, one of the major challenges in the detection of low-abundance phosphopeptides is their enrichment from complex peptide mixtures. Titanium dioxide (TiO₂) has been proven to be a highly efficient approach for phosphopeptide enrichment and is widely applied. In this study, a novel TiO₂ plate was developed by coating TiO₂ particles onto polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-coated MALDI plates, glass, or plastic substrates. The TiO₂-PDMS plate (TP plate) could be used for on-target MALDI-TOF analysis, or as a purification plate on which phosphopeptides were eluted out and subjected to MALDI-TOF or nanoLC-MS/MS analysis. The detection limit of the TP plate was ∼10-folds lower than that of a TiO₂-packed tip approach. The capacity of the ∼2.5 mm diameter TiO₂ spots was estimated to be ∼10 μg of β-casein. Following TiO₂ plate enrichment of SCC4 cell lysate digests and nanoLC-MS/MS analysis, ∼82% of the detected proteins were phosphorylated, illustrating the sensitivity and effectiveness of the TP plate for phosphoproteomic study.     

A novel strategy for phosphopeptide enrichment using lanthanide phosphate co-precipitation

Reversible phosphorylation of proteins is a common theme in the regulation of important cellular functions such as growth, metabolism, and differentiation. The comprehensive understanding of biological processes requires the characterization of protein phosphorylation at the molecular level. Although, the number of cellular phosphoproteins is relatively high, the phosphorylated residues themselves are generally of low abundance due to the sub-stoichiometric nature. However, low abundance of phosphopeptides and low degree of phosphorylation typically necessitates isolation and concentration of phosphopeptides prior to mass spectrometric analysis. In this study, we used trivalent lanthanide ions (LaCl(3), CeCl(3), EuCl(3), TbCl(3), HoCl(3), ErCl(3), and TmCl(3)) for phosphopeptide enrichment and cleaning-up. Due to their low solubility product, lanthanide ions form stable complexes with the phosphate groups of phosphopeptides and precipitate out of solution. In a further step, non-phosphorylated compounds can easily be removed by simple centrifugation and washing before mass spectrometric analysis using Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation-time of flight. The precipitation method was applied for the isolation of phosphopeptides from standard proteins such as ovalbumin, α-casein, and β-casein. High enrichment of phosphopeptides could also be achieved for real samples such as fresh milk and egg white. The technology presented here represents an excellent and highly selective tool for phosphopeptide recovery; it is easily applicable and shows several advantages as compared with standard approaches such as TiO(2) or IMAC.     

Ti-SBA-15介孔材料用于磷酸化肽的高效富集

结合基质辅助激光解吸飞行时间质谱(MALDI-TOF MS)检测技术,考察了Ti-SBA-15介孔材料对β-酪蛋白酶解产物中磷酸化肽的选择性富集性能。实验结果显示,含Ti和Si物质的量比为0.08的Ti-SBA-15介孔材料可选择性地对β-酪蛋白酶解产物中的磷酸化肽进行选择性富集;对于β-酪蛋白和牛血清白蛋白物质的量比为1:100的蛋白质酶解混合液,Ti-SBA-15仍能实现对其磷酸化肽的有效富集。上述结果表明,作为一种多孔、高比表面积的磷酸化多肽的选择性吸附材料,Ti-SBA-15有望在磷酸化蛋白质组的分析中得到广泛的应用。     

Rapid enrichment of phosphopeptides by BaTiO3 nanoparticles after microwave-assisted tryptic digest of phosphoproteins, and their identification by MALDI-MS

We show that BaTiO₃ nanoparticles (NPs) can be used as a novel substrate for the rapid enrichment of phosphopeptides from microwave tryptic digests of α-casein and non-fat milk prior to their identification by MALDI-MS. Protein digestion is achieved by microwave tryptic digest for 50?s, and the resulting phosphopeptides can be effectively adsorbed on the surfaces of the NPs. The phosphopeptides were selectively detected via MALDI-MS. Digestion, enrichment and detection are accomplished within ～60?min. The method was applied to the indentification of 24 phosphopeptides from α-casein and of 21 phosphopeptides (of the α-casein type) from nonfat milk.

EJMS protocol: systematic studies on TiO2-based phosphopeptide enrichment procedures upon in-solution and in-gel digestions of proteins. Are there readily applicable protocols suitable for matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry-based phosphopeptide stability estimations?

There have been many successful efforts to enrich phosphopeptides in complex protein mixtures by the use of immobilized metal affinity chromatography (IMAC) and/or metal oxide affinity chromatography (MOAC) with which mass spectrometric analysis of phosphopeptides has become state of the art in specialized laboratories, mostly applying nanoLC electrospray ionization mass spectrometry-based investigations. However, widespread use of these powerful techniques is still not achieved. In this study, we present a ready-to-use phosphopeptide enrichment procedure using commercially available TiO(2)-loaded pipette tips in combination with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) analyses. Using α-casein as a model protein and citric acid as additive during sample loading, a similar enrichment success can be achieved as compared to applying 2,5- dihydroxy benzoic acid (DHB) for this task. But the DHB-inherited drawbacks are eliminated. In addition, we show that combining DHB and 2,4,6-trihydroxy acetophenone (THAP) as matrix for MALDI-MS measurements retains the sensitivity of DHB for phosphopeptide analysis but adds the homogenous crystallization properties of THAP, enabling preparation of evenly distributed matrix surfaces on MALDI-MS anchor targets, a prerequisite for automated MALDI- MS analyses. Tripartite motif-containing protein 28 and stathmin are two examples for which successful phosphopeptide enrichment of either sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis or two-dimensional gel electrophoresis-separated proteins is shown. Finally, high resolution MALDI Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry after phosphopeptide enrichment suggests that chemical dephosphorylation may occur as a side reaction during basic elution of phosphopeptides bound to MOAC surfaces, suggesting that proteome-wide phosphopeptide analyses ought to be interpreted with caution. In contrast, in-depth analysis of phosphopeptide/non-phosphorylated peptide siblings may be used to estimate stability differences of phosphorylation sites in individual proteins, possibly adding valuable information on biological regulation processes.     

Nanoparticle-modified monolithic pipette tips for phosphopeptide enrichment

We have developed nanoparticle-modified monoliths in pipette tips for selective and efficient enrichment of phosphopeptides. The 5 μL monolithic beds were prepared by UV-initiated polymerization in 200 μL polypropylene pipette tips and either iron oxide or hydroxyapatite nanoparticles were used for monolith modification. Iron oxide nanoparticles were prepared by a co-precipitation method and stabilized by citrate ions. A stable coating of iron oxide nanoparticles on the pore surface of the monolith was obtained via multivalent electrostatic interactions of citrate ions on the surface of nanoparticles with a quaternary amine functionalized poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate-co-ethylene dimethacrylate) monolith. Hydroxyapatite nanoparticles were incorporated into the poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate-co-ethylene dimethacrylate) monolith by simply admixing them in the polymerization mixture followed by in situ polymerization. The nanoparticle-modified monoliths were compared with commercially available titanium dioxide pipette tips. Performance of the developed and commercially available sorbents was demonstrated with the efficient and selective enrichment of phosphopeptides from peptide mixtures of α-casein and β-casein digests followed by off-line MALDI/MS analysis.     

Online Microreactor Titanium Dioxide RPLC-LTQ-Orbitrap MS Automated Platform for Shotgun Analysis of (Phospho) Proteins in Human Amniotic Fluid

Biomarkers in amniotic fluid (AF) include both non-modified and phosphorylated proteins and can be used in the diagnosis of pregnancy-associated pathologic conditions. In this work, an integrated LC–MS method for selective, sensitive and reproducible analysis of phosphorylation in proteins has been applied to AF. Online digestion of (phospho) proteins was coupled with the selective enrichment on a TiO₂ trap, and separated by RPLC–MSⁿ of both normal and phosphorylated produced peptides. First, an AF-pooled sample was analyzed and a general map of contained proteins and biomarkers was derived in a single run. Then, individual AF samples were analyzed with a downscaled platform with improved sensitivity. On purpose, a trypsin-based CIM^® minidisk was used for online digestion of AF. The obtained protein profile was highly consistent with the one obtained with traditional off-line digestions. Moreover, the use of a specific phospho-enrichment tool followed by LTQ-Orbitrap, enhanced the confidence in the determination of protein phosphorylation state and phosphorylation sites. The phosphorylation sites of IGFBP-1 and osteopontin present in the AF of two individual samples were monitored with a total of 24 and 17 phosphopeptides, respectively, encoding for 12 putative novel phosphorylation sites in addition to known sites.     

Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry of phosphopeptides isolated by on-line immobilized metal-ion affinity chromatography

Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI/MS) affords a rapid and sensitive technique for determining peptides produced by the enzymatic digestion of phosphoroteins. When coupled with on-line immobilized metal-ion affinity chromatography (IMAC), the combmation allows separation and mass spectrometric identification of phosphorylated and nonphosphorylated peptides. In this study, the feasibility and general applicability of on-line IMAC/ESI/MS is investigated by using immobilized ferric ions for selective chelation of several phosphotyrosine and phosphoserine peptides. The sensitivity and practicality of the technique for phosphoproteins are demonstrated via the analysis of 30 pmol (～0.7 μg) of bovine β-casein purified by sodium dodecylsulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, electroblotted onto a polyvinylidene difluoride membrane, and digested in situ with trypsin. It is observed that on-line IMAC/ESI/MS suffers less from sample losses than experiments performed off-line, suggesting that the limiting factors in sensitivity for this technique are the purification procedures and sample handling rather than the IMAC and mass spectrometry. Thus, the ability to inject the tryptic digest of an electroblotted protein directly onto the column without buffer exchange and to analyze the eluent directly via on-line coupling of the IMAC column to the mass spectrometer greatly reduces sample losses incurred through sample handling and provides a convenient method for analyzing phosphopeptides at low levels.     

The relative influence of phosphorylation and methylation on responsiveness of peptides to MALDI and ESI mass spectrometry

Qualitative and quantitative analysis of post‐translational protein modifications by mass spectrometry is often hampered by changes in the ionization/detection efficiencies caused by amino acid modifications. This paper reports a comprehensive study of the influence of phosphorylation and methylation on the responsiveness of peptides to matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) and electrospray ionization (ESI) mass spectrometry. Using well‐characterized synthetic peptide mixtures consisting of modified peptides and their unmodified analogs, relative ionization/detection efficiencies of phosphorylated, monomethylated, and dimethylated peptides were determined. Our results clearly confirm that the ion yields are generally lower and the signal intensities are reduced with phosphopeptides than with their nonphosphorylated analogs and that this has to be taken into account in MALDI and ESI mass spectrometry. However, the average reduction of ion yield caused by phosphorylation is more pronounced with MALDI than with ESI. The unpredictable impact of phosphorylation does not depend on the hydrophobicity and net charge of the peptide, indicating that reliable quantification of phosphorylation by mass spectrometry requires the use of internal standards. In contrast to phosphorylation, mono‐ and dimethylated peptides frequently exhibit increased signal intensities in MALDI mass spectrometry (MALDI‐MS). Despite minor matrix‐dependent variability, MALDI methods are well suited for the sensitive detection of dimethylated arginine and lysine peptides. Mono‐ and dimethylation of the arginine guanidino group did not significantly influence the ionization efficiency of peptides in ESI‐MS. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Comparison of metal and metal oxide media for phosphopeptide enrichment prior to mass spectrometric analyses

Several affinity resins consisting of ionic metals or metal oxides were investigated for their phosphopeptide enrichment capabilities with subsequent mass spectrometric analyses. Commercially-available enrichment metal oxide affinity chromatography (MOAC) resins using manufacturer’s and/or published protocols were compared and evaluated for the most efficient and selective method that could be implemented as a standard enrichment procedure. From these comparative analyses, using a tryptic digest of casein proteins, it was determined that in our hands, two of the resins out-performed the others based on a variety of criteria, including the number of phosphorylation sites identified during MS analyses, the lower numbers of nonspecifically bound peptides observed, and the limits of detection. Applicability of these enrichment resins to a complex biological mixture was investigated. For this work, a mixture of avian histones was digested, subjected to titanium dioxide phosphopeptide enrichment, and analyzed by mass spectrometry. Eight phosphorylated tryptic peptides were observed following enrichment and subsequent LC/MS/MS analyses. Of note, seven of the eight phosphopeptides were not observed without titanium dioxide enrichment. From these analyses, four sites of phosphorylation were unequivocally determined, two of which have not been reported previously. Four additional phosphopeptides were observed; however, the site of phosphorylation could not be distinguished but was localized to one of two possible amino acids. These methods should aid in the investigation of proteins post-translationally modified with phosphate, especially those present at low concentrations as was demonstrated by successful enrichment at the femtomole level.