A Computer Method for Predicting the Electrophoretic Mobility of Peptides

A computer model is presented for the prediction of the electrophoretic mobilities of peptides from physical constants derived from their amino acid sequences. The model assumes that the electrophoretic mobility can be represented by a product of four functions according to the relation:  l_comp= l(L)w(W)q(Q)c(CC), where L (a length parameter) is represented by the number of amino acid residues of the peptide, W (a width parameter) is represented by the average residue mass, Q = the charge of the peptide, and CC = the position of the center of charge relative to the center of mass. The model was used to calculate the electrophoretic mobilities of peptides in a 50 mM phosphate buffer at pH 2.5. Sixty-four test peptides ranging in size from 2 to 39 amino acid residues were used for this study. The calculated mobilities show excellent correlation with experimental measurements with a correlation coefficient greater than 0.98.