Disulfide bonds play important roles in establishing and stabilizing three-dimensional protein structure, and mass spectrometry (MS) has become the primary detection method to decipher their biological and pathological roles. Several experimental methods before or after MS detection have been developed to aid in disulfide bond assignment, such as tandem MS followed by database searching or modification of the disulfide bond via chemical reduction or oxidation. Despite these technological advancements, the detection and proper assignment of disulfide bonds have remained experimentally difficult. Therefore, we have developed an alternative method for disulfide bond elucidation using capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry (CE-MS) combined with an on-target performic acid oxidation method for matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) deposited samples. An information rich CE-MS method that results in distinct charge-state trends observed in two-dimensional plots of log(mu eff) versus log (MW) was developed to enhance the confidence of peptide and protein identifications. The charge-state trends provide information about the number of basic amino acid residues present within each peptide. This information can be used to develop methods to screen for posttranslationally modified peptides (e.g., phosphorylation, disulfide bonds, etc.). In the case of disulfide bonds, the highly charged peptides (i.e., 3, 4 or greater charge states) have a high probability of being disulfide-linked peptides, owing to charge contribution of both peptides forming the disulfide bridged peptide. However, intra-linked disulfide bridged peptides can also be present at lower charge states. Therefore, a chemically selective method to rapidly locate disulfide-linked peptides that have been separated by CE-MS must be developed. An on-target performic acid oxidation method was developed to provide the chemical selectivity towards disulfide bonds, i.e., converting the cystine bond to form two peptides modified with a cysteic acid (SO3H) side chain. The on-target oxidation method offers (i) no post-oxidation sample cleanup, (ii) improved throughput over solution-phase oxidation methods, and (iii) easily adapted to CE separations coupled offline with MALDI-MS. The evaluation of the on-target oxidation experimental parameters, the fragmentation behavior of cysteic acid-containing peptides and an alternative method for disulfide bond elucidation, using CE-MS combined with the ontarget oxidation method, are discussed within.

In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird die Synthese linearer und zyklischer Aminoketone via nucleophiler aromatischer Substitution von fluorsubstituierten aromatischen Ketonen mit sekundären, aliphatischen Diaminen vorgestellt. Durch eine Adaption der Prozessparameter konnte eine elegante Methode zur Synthese fluorendgruppentragender Oligomere sowie von definierten Makrozyklen entwickelt werden. Die Modifizierung der Oligomere erfolgte sowohl durch Endgruppensubstitution als auch durch Reaktionen an der Carbonylgruppe am Oligomerrückgrat. Als Funktionalisierungsreagenzien wurden Mercaptoessigsäure, LAWESSONs Reagenz und N,N-Dimethylanilin eingesetzt. Die Umsetzung der Makrozyklen mit N,N-Dialkylanilinen ermöglicht die Synthese zyklischer Triphenylmethanfarbstoffe. Die Untersuchung der optischen Eigenschaften dieser zyklischen Kristallviolett-Derivate in Abhängigkeit des pH-Wertes und der Natur des Lösungsmittels sowie der Sensitivität gegenüber Cyanid-Ionen erfolgte mit Hilfe der UV/Vis-Spektroskopie.

Artificial membranes composed of natural lipids are not stable when exposed to air/vacuum, surfactant, organic solvent, etc. Polymerizable lipids provide an opportunity to broaden the use of lipid membranes to study ligand-receptor pairs under harsh experimental conditions. This dissertation presents the utilization of polymerizable lipids in matrix assisted laser desorption and ionization-mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) for analysis of ligands bound to membrane receptors. This platform may be applied to rapid drug-screening for membrane receptors including transmembrane proteins. Bacterial toxins and their membrane receptors were used as model ligand-receptor pairs to demonstrate the feasibility of using polymerizable lipids to detect and identify ligands by MALDI-TOF MS. Cholera toxin B (CTB) was successfully detected bound to polymerized lipid membranes with incorporation of its membrane receptor, GM1, while no CTB was detected in non-polymerizable lipid membranes. This affinity capture platform based on poly(lipid) showed a high resistance to interferences. On-plate digestion of bound CTB was performed and 57% amino acid sequence coverage was achieved. Total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy (TIRF-M) was applied to compare CTB-GM1 binding affinity in polymerized and unpolymerized membranes. Under a static flow system, the binding between CTB and GM1 was found to be stronger in polymerized membranes than other membranes. However, the ligand concentration under a static flow system is not in excess and the apparent binding affinity is likely to be significantly different than the true value. The true binding affinity can be approached under a continuous flow system, however equilibration time was found to be too long to address experimentally. Membrane fluidity, which may be required to maintain the membrane receptor activity, is suppressed in poly(lipid) membranes compared to unpolymerized membranes. In order to maintain fluidity, a non-polymerizable lipid was mixed into a polymerized lipid. Fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) data showed that fluidity of membrane composed of the mixed lipid was maintained compared to pure poly(lipid). Phase segregation of polymerized lipid and non-polymerizable lipid was detected by atomic force microscopy (AFM). CTB bound to GM1 in mixed lipid membranes was detected by MALDI-MS, indicating the mixed lipid membranes retain stability under MALDI-MS analysis conditions.

Artificial membranes composed of natural lipids are not stable when exposed to air/vacuum, surfactant, organic solvent, etc. Polymerizable lipids provide an opportunity to broaden the use of lipid membranes to study ligand-receptor pairs under harsh experimental conditions. This dissertation presents the utilization of polymerizable lipids in matrix assisted laser desorption and ionization-mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) for analysis of ligands bound to membrane receptors. This platform may be applied to rapid drug-screening for membrane receptors including transmembrane proteins. Bacterial toxins and their membrane receptors were used as model ligand-receptor pairs to demonstrate the feasibility of using polymerizable lipids to detect and identify ligands by MALDI-TOF MS. Cholera toxin B (CTB) was successfully detected bound to polymerized lipid membranes with incorporation of its membrane receptor, GM1, while no CTB was detected in non-polymerizable lipid membranes. This affinity capture platform based on poly(lipid) showed a high resistance to interferences. On-plate digestion of bound CTB was performed and 57% amino acid sequence coverage was achieved. Total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy (TIRF-M) was applied to compare CTB-GM1 binding affinity in polymerized and unpolymerized membranes. Under a static flow system, the binding between CTB and GM1 was found to be stronger in polymerized membranes than other membranes. However, the ligand concentration under a static flow system is not in excess and the apparent binding affinity is likely to be significantly different than the true value. The true binding affinity can be approached under a continuous flow system, however equilibration time was found to be too long to address experimentally. Membrane fluidity, which may be required to maintain the membrane receptor activity, is suppressed in poly(lipid) membranes compared to unpolymerized membranes. In order to maintain fluidity, a non-polymerizable lipid was mixed into a polymerized lipid. Fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) data showed that fluidity of membrane composed of the mixed lipid was maintained compared to pure poly(lipid). Phase segregation of polymerized lipid and non-polymerizable lipid was detected by atomic force microscopy (AFM). CTB bound to GM1 in mixed lipid membranes was detected by MALDI-MS, indicating the mixed lipid membranes retain stability under MALDI-MS analysis conditions.

Peptide mass fingerprinting (PMF) of protein digests is a widely-accepted method for protein identification in MS-based proteomic studies. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI) is the technique of choice in PMF experiments. The success of protein identification in a PMF experiment is directly related to the amount of amino acid sequence coverage. In an effort to increase the amount of sequence information obtained in a MALDI PMF experiment, performic acid oxidation is performed on tryptic digests of known proteins. Performic acid was chosen as the chemical oxidant due to the ease of use and to the selective oxidation of cysteine, methionine, and tryptophan residues. In experiments performed in our laboratory, performic acid oxidation either increased or did not affect protein sequence coverage in PMF experiments when oxidized tryptic digests were analyzed by MALDI. Negative mode MALDI data were acquired, as well as positive mode MALDI data, due to the enhanced ionization of cysteic acid-containing peptides in negative mode. Furthermore, the confidence in a protein match is increased by observation of mass shifts indicative of cysteine, methionine, and/or tryptophan in oxidized peptide ion signals when comparing MALDI spectra prior to performic acid oxidation and after oxidation due to the low abundance of these residues in the majority of all known and hypothetical proteins.

Stuttgart, Univ., Diss., 2008.

AN ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION OF Mohamed Zaneer Segu Mohideen, for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Chemistry, presented on November 3 2008, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: TARGET MODIFICATION FOR ENHANCED PERFORMANCE MATRIX ASSISTED LASER DESORPTION IONIZATION (MALDI) MASS SPECTROMETRY MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Gary R Kinsel MALDI MS, a powerful tool for the analysis of biomolecules, has undergone major advancement in instrumentation to yield improvements in robustness, sensitivity and throughput since its invention. Despite these developments in instrumentation, the performance of MALDI is in question when it comes to the analysis of complex protein/peptide mixtures. For these types of mixtures the performance of MALDI can be improved by either simplifying the sample complexity, modifying the sample preparation approach to increase the ionization efficiency of mixture components or seeking further enhancements to instrument performance. In this work these improvements are pursued through modifications to the MALDI target itself. In the MALDI analysis of high MW proteins a primary limitation is thought to be related to inefficient desorption of these compounds as proteins are expected to experience relatively stronger interaction with the MALDI target surface. This insight led to investigations of the use of various sublayers, deposited directly on the MALDI target, as a means to improve high molecular weight protein MALDI ion signals. In the first approach the protein / matrix mixture is applied on a laser desorbable polyaromatic hydrocarbon layer which serves as a barrier to protein surface binding interactions. These sublayers are also shown to be useful for on probe sample purification from salts that are known to interfere with MALDI performance. In the second approach the sublayer is formed from bovine serum albumin, a protein that is known to have strong binding affinity for surfaces and is also expected to form a barrier to protein surface binding interactions. Enhancements in MALDI performance and reductions in the limit of detection for proteins on these albumin precoated probes clearly demonstrate the influence of surface-protein interaction in the analysis of these species by MALDI MS. In further studies, methods to improve on-MALDI-target approaches to the simplification of sample complexity are investigated. These on-target separation approaches have been previously developed and shown to be successful for reducing sample complexity in the Kinsel Research Group. However, one significant limitation to this separation approach is the limited surface binding capacity of the MALDI probe. This limitation led to theoretical and experimental studies of methods to improve the surface protein binding capacity. Studies performed show that the surface binding capacity can be improved significantly through attachment of gold beads and through physical / chemical roughening of the target surface. Both approaches are shown to yield higher performance MALDI probes with lowered limits of detection for deposited / affinity captured proteins.

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