Development and Application of Technology for Streamlining Top-Down Proteomics

摘要: The two major approaches to proteomics by mass spectrometry (MS) involve either digestion of proteins into peptides prior to MS (bottom-up) or intact protein detection and fragmentation directly in the mass spectrometer (top-down). Each method has advantages: bottom-up proteomics can identify thousands of proteins per day and give quantitative information, while top-down proteomics gives 100% sequence coverage for each identification event and provides post-translational modification information with little effort in sample preparation or analysis. Bottom-up analyses are more popular because methods, hardware, and software are more refined. The work encompassed here has addressed major challenges confronting the top-down approach with development and application of technology tailored specifically for analyses of complex mixtures of intact proteins. The research has contributed to newly …