Characterization of amyloidogenic immunoglobulin light chains directly from serum by on-line immunoaffinity isolation

Primary systemic amyloidosis (AL) is characterized by the overproduction of immunoglobulin light chain proteins by a monoclonal, terminally differentiated B-lymphocyte or plasma cell clone. The free immunoglobulin light chains are deposited in an abnormal conformation as amyloid in a variety of organs in the body. The mechanism of amyloid formation is not well understood, but appears to be associated with some form of cleavage of the immunoglobulin light chain with subsequent aggregate formation. In an attempt to characterize the structure of amyloid-forming light chain proteins we developed an on-line immunoaffinity purification and subsequent characterization of free kappa and free lambda immunoglobulin light chains by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. The methodology is totally automated and requires 20 micro L of serum. Mass spectral analysis of Bence Jones proteins under non-denaturing conditions was also utilized to examine the tertiary and quaternary structure of light chain proteins and clearly shows covalent dimer formation of lambda type light chain. This type of on-line assay may prove helpful in elucidating distinguishing features capable of discriminating AL from benign monoclonal gammopathies of undetermined significance as well as diagnosing AL.     

亚微米电喷雾喷针在非变性质谱分析中的研究进展

非变性质谱技术已成为表征蛋白质结构的重要工具之一。与传统的电喷雾喷针(Electrospray emitter,ESI emitter)相比,亚微米电喷雾喷针具有改变离子电荷态分布和降低盐离子加合等多种特性,可在生理环境下直接解析蛋白质的结构。该文综述了亚微米电喷雾喷针的特性及其在非变性质谱分析中的应用,并对其未来的发展趋势进行了展望。     

Fe3O4/TiO2 纳米材料靶上脱盐的基质辅助激光解析/电离质谱新方法研究

建立了一种简便、高效的靶上脱盐新方法。利用Fe3O4/TiO2磁性纳米材料对肽段的吸附作用,将其作为载体用于靶上肽段富集和脱盐。在对纳米材料使用量、浸洗条件进行优化的基础上,成功地鉴定了溶于10mol/L尿素溶液的100fmol的肌红蛋白样品,也对溶于3mol/L尿素溶液中的10fmol的肌红蛋白样品进行了成功地分析鉴定。通过对肌红蛋白样品进行预处理和质谱分析重复实验,表明该方法重现性好,且简便、高效,所需时间短,一次可同时处理多个样品,易于实现通量化,为有效地解决目前蛋白质组分析中所面临的基质辅助激光解析/离子化飞行时间质谱耐盐性差的问题提供了一种新的手段。     

A convenient purification and preconcentration of peptides with α‐cyano‐4‐hydroxycinnamic acid matrix crystals in a pipette tip for matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry

Peptide samples derived from enzymatic in‐gel digestion of proteins resolved by gel electrophoresis often contain high amount of salts originating from reaction and separation buffers. Different methods are used for desalting prior to matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry (MS), e.g. reversed‐phase pipette tip purification, on‐target washing, adding co‐matrices, etc. As a suitable matrix for MALDI MS of peptides, α‐cyano‐4‐hydroxycinnamic acid (CHCA) is frequently used. Crystalline CHCA shows the ability to bind peptides on its surface and because it is almost insoluble in acidic water solutions, the on‐target washing of peptide samples can significantly improve MALDI MS signals. Although the common on‐target washing represents a simple, cheap and fast procedure, only a small portion of the available peptide solution is efficiently used for the subsequent MS analysis. The present approach is a combination of the on‐target washing principle carried out in a narrow‐end pipette tip (e.g. GELoader tip) and preconcentration of peptides from acidified solution by passing it through small CHCA crystals captured inside the tip on a glass microfiber frit. The results of MALDI MS analysis using CHCA‐tip peptide preconcentration are comparable with the use of homemade POROS R2 pipette tip microcolumns. Advantages and limitations of this approach are discussed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Salt removal during Off-Gel electrophoresis of protein samples

The Off-Gel technology was recently described for protein fractionation in a solution placed on top of an immobilized pH gradient gel. In addition, this process was found to remove salts from the biological samples to analyze. This desalting effect is studied experimentally in a conductometric prototype cell. A simplified analytical model is developed to understand this process and a good agreement is found with the conductivity measurements. To illustrate the desalting of a biological sample, a 1 mg.mL(-1) solution of beta-lactoglobulin A in 0.1 M NaCl is subjected to electrophoresis in a single compartment Off-Gel cell. The analysis of the resulting sample by ESI-MS demonstrates the effective removal of salt. A finite element diffusion-migration model is also used to illustrate how the nonuniformity of the electric field in the cell, associated with the salt migration, can slow down the desalting process.     

基于MALDI-TOF MS的串联富集策略在磷酸化蛋白组学中的应用

提出一种除盐-富集串联用于磷酸肽富集研究的思路。选用C18柱和铈(Ⅳ)修饰的壳聚糖材料进行脱盐实验,以制备的基于聚合物基体螯合Fe3+的亲和色谱材料为富集材料。将直接富集和串联策略应用到标准品和血清中,研究结果表明,该富集材料具有高选择性和高灵敏度(1.6 fmol),铈(Ⅳ)修饰的壳聚糖材料前提下的串联策略能明显降低样品的复杂性。相比直接富集方法,能够提高磷酸化肽的覆盖率。     

Effect of high pressure on cod (Gadus morhua) desalting

The effect of high pressure on salt and water diffusion in the desalting process of cod was studied. Under pressure, up to 300 MPa, the osmotic equilibrium is reached much faster, compared to desalting at atmospheric pressure. Water (D _ew) and salt (D _es) effective diffusion coefficients reached a maximum at 200 MPa, increasing 500- and 160-fold, respectively, compared with desalting at atmospheric pressure. Increasing pressure up to 300 MPa causes a reduction in both effective diffusion coefficients, although they were still about 70-fold higher than at atmospheric pressure. Up to 200 MPa, a linear correlation was found between D _ew and D _es and pressure. However, the total diffused amounts of water and salt, when the osmotic equilibrium was reached, were lower under pressure. At atmospheric pressure cod water content increased 1.65-fold, but under pressure the increment was on average 1.25-fold, while salt content decreased to 0.51-fold the initial value at atmospheric pressure and to around 0.75-fold under pressure.     

On-line desalting and carbohydrate analysis for immobilized enzyme hydrolysis of waste cellulosic biomass by column-switching high-performance liquid chromatography

An innovative green column-switching high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) technique was developed by coupling traditional and Pb²⁺ ion-exclusion columns to study enzyme hydrolysis components of waste cellulosic biomass. Pure water was used as the mobile phase to separate neutral polar analytes in high salt content solution. The column-switching HPLC-RI was connected on-line to the immobilized enzyme reactor for successive on-line desalting and simultaneous analysis of six carbohydrates (cellobiose, glucose, xylose, galactose, mannose, and arabinose) in the hydrolysate of waste paper and waste tree branch by incorporating the heart-cut and the elution-time-difference techniques. Six internal standard calibration curves in the linear concentration range of 0–2000 μg mL⁻¹ were prepared. Xylitol was used as the internal standard to give excellent linear correlation coefficients (0.9984–0.9999). The limits of detection and quantification for cellobiose, glucose, xylose, galactose, mannose, and arabinose varied between 0.12–4.88 and 0.40–16.3 μg mL⁻¹, respectively, with an accuracy of 90–102% and a precision of 0.1–7.8%. Cellulose and hemicellulose contents were higher in waste paper than in waste tree branch.     

Development of new multifunctional terpolymer sorbent for proteomics applications

Determination of the availability of phases for specific separations is an important task achieved by a separation chemist. This becomes vital when the complex samples like biofluids are dealt with in proteome science. The work presented here involves the synthesis and application of terpolymeric sorbent with different functionalizations adopted for the selective enrichment of biomolecules of interest from biological fluids. Synthesis of terpolymer was carried out by the radical polymerization of monomers: methyl acrylate, acrylic acid and vinyl acetate with diethylene glycol dimethacrylate as cross‐linking agent, benzoyl peroxide as initiator and chloroform as a porogenic solvent. Characterization was done through Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and nitrogen adsorption porosimetry. The polymer was further modified to immobilized metal ion affinity chromatographic material, with immobilized Fe³⁺/La³⁺ ions that allowed phosphopeptide enrichment from tryptic digests of standard proteins as well as milk, egg yolk and human serum. Sensitivity of enrichment down to 50 fmol was achieved in the presence of complex protein background as bovine serum albumin. Hydrophobicity was introduced through octadecyl amine, which provides comparable results to ZipTip C₁₈/C₄ for desalting of complex mixtures of all caseins. Analysis of the enriched content was performed by Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization Mass Spectrometry (MALDI‐MS). Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.