Collisionally activated dissociation and electron capture dissociation of several mass spectrometry-identifiable chemical cross-linkers

Anal Chem. 2006 Dec 15;78(24):8183-93. doi: 10.1021/ac060789h.

Abstract

One of the challenges in protein interaction studies with chemical cross-linking stems from the complexity of intra-, inter-, and dead-end cross-linked peptide mixtures. We have developed new cross-linkers to study protein-protein interactions with mass spectrometry to improve the ability to deal with this complexity. Even the accurate mass capabilities of FTICR-MS alone cannot unambiguously identify cross-linked peptides from cell-labeling experiments due to the complexity of these mixtures resultant from the enormous number of possible cross-linked species. We have developed novel cross-linkers that have unique fragmentation features in the gas phase. The characteristics of these cross-linkers combined with the accurate mass capability of FTICR-MS can help distinguish cross-linking reaction products and assign protein identities. These cross-linkers that we call protein interaction reporters (PIRs) have been constructed with two reactive groups attached through two bonds that can be preferentially cleaved by low-energy CID of the respective protonated precursor ions. After cleavage of the labile bonds, the middle part of the linker serves as a reporter ion to aid identification of cross-linked peptides. This report highlights three new PIRs with new features that have been developed to improve the efficiency of release of reporter ions. The new cross-linkers reported here were tuned with the addition of an affinity tag, a hydrophilic group, a photocleavable group, and new low-energy MS/MS cleavable bonds. This report presents our investigation of the MSMS fragmentation behavior of selected protonated ions of the new compounds. The comprehensive fragmentation of these PIRs and PIR-labeled cross-linked peptides with low-energy collisions and an example of electron capture dissociation in FTICR-MS is presented. These new cross-linkers will contribute to current systems biology research by allowing acquisition of global or large-scale data on protein-protein interactions.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Cross-Linking Reagents / chemistry*
  • Cyclotrons*
  • Electrons*
  • Gases
  • Mass Spectrometry*
  • Peptide Fragments / chemistry*
  • Protein Binding
  • Proteins / chemistry*
  • Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared

Substances

  • Cross-Linking Reagents
  • Gases
  • Peptide Fragments
  • Proteins