This project is concerned with method development in mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomics in order to find putative biomarkers for early pregnancy ofdomesticated dogs. It is of importance for dog breeders to know whether the dogsbecome pregnant post-mating. Unlike humans, dogs are not known to possess aspecific hormone that indicates fetal development; therefore other biomarkers mustbe investigated. The approach of choice in this project was to look at proteins throughMS-based proteomics. For this purpose, serum samples from 11 pregnant dogs (case,different breeds) and 7 non-pregnant dogs (control, all beagle dogs) were sampledbefore-hand at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. Each dog wassampled Day 1, Day 8, Day 15, Day 22 and Day 29 after optimal mating. Twodifferent proteomics approaches were conducted: Bottom-up (“Shotgun”) proteomicsand targeted proteomics (“targeted analysis”). In this study, Label-free Quantification(LFQ) was employed, which is a relative quantitative technique. The massspectrometer of choice was the Quadrupole-Orbitrap QExactive plus massspectrometer coupled to a nano-Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography (UPLC).Method optimization was done with respect to concentration of samples prior to MSanalysis, as well as different LC-gradients. From shotgun screening experiments, itwas possible to identify 252 proteins. Ultimately, 9 proteins were investigated usingtargeted final analysis: CRP, SERPINC1, CP, PROS1, SERPING1, A2M, AGP,SERPINA1 and HP. For targeted final analysis, 21 peptides were considered.Calibration curves were constructed using 8 of the 21 targeted peptides; 1 peptide perprotein, except for HP which had 2 peptides per protein. The SERPINA1 and CPproteins had no appropriate peptides for targeted final analysis and were thusexcluded. It was confirmed that CRP was up-regulated in case dogs compared tocontrol dogs. The other investigatedproteins showed no significant signs of regulation. In order to improve the results; itwould be desirable to include more dogs in the study which would benefit thestatistics of protein regulation. However, the use of isotopic labeled standards andemployment of a Parallel Reaction Monitoring (PRM) method should be prioritizedfor obtaining absolute quantitative data.

Mass spectrometry (MS) has proven itself to be indispensable for the analysis of biomolecules and molecular systems. This research has three goals: (1) expand on prior work toward the discovery of novel diagnostic targets for Valley Fever, (2) evaluate current mass spectrometry based proteomics for the discovery of non-host protein in complex host biological samples, and (3) investigate the potential for two gas phase techniques, surface induced dissociation, and ion mobility for the analysis of carbohydrate based molecules. Mass spectrometry has allowed for great advances in the identification of proteins in biological samples through implementing liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry and bioinformatics techniques known as proteomics. Proteomics techniques were used to elucidate a portion of the biosignature of Valley Fever (VF), a disease of great importance in the arid regions of the western United States. Current diagnostics for this fungal lung disease are remarkably unreliable which creates a need for an unfailing diagnostic method. Using a new generation of instrumentation along with directed methods, four previously discovered VF marker proteins were evaluated for their presence in mouse plasma, lung homogenate and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid samples. Due to inconclusive data, discovery proteomics approaches were then used to identify possible diagnostic targets in both human and mouse bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. In human bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, one potential target was discovered in five out of eight VF positive samples, and two further identifications of VF in negative samples. Mouse bronchoalveolar lavage fluid also showed the presence of this protein. Multiple-reaction monitoring based validation, using two-dimensional online separations for the presence of either the newly discovered protein or the four previously discovered proteins, was inconclusive. Emerging from the difficulties observed by the author and colleagues in identifying infectious agent proteins in complex host biological samples, an investigation of the feasibility of undertaking such endeavors was performed. One of the main complications thwarting the discovery of infectious agent proteins is the dynamic range of protein concentration in the host biological sample. This issue was resolved by using commercially available mass spectrometry and a two-dimensional liquid chromatographic separations platform. This enhanced separation combined with cost-effective protein normalization techniques, identified non-host proteins with good sequence coverage and spectral counts. Combining antibody-based depletion of highly abundant plasma proteins in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, with at least a three fraction sample analysis enabled detection of a low abundant non-host protein (2pmol in 50μg host protein) with high sequence coverage. Glycosylation, an abundant post-translational modification of protein composed of carbohydrate oligomers may hold within its structure more biologically relevant information than the DNA that encoded the protein on which the glycan resides. The analysis of glycosylation plays a critical role in understanding biology. Carbohydrate based moieties pose many distinct challenges to their analysis; two of which are isobaric fundamental units and complex branching chemistry. Mass spectrometry provides a way of overcoming some of these challenges. To examine the complex biomolecules, a gas phase ion separation technique, known as ion mobility, and a non-traditional ion activation technique, surface-induced dissociation, were used. Surface-induced dissociation provides analogous fragmentation patterns to those generated via collision-induced dissociation (CID); however, much more extensive fragmentation can be achieved in a single tandem MS experiment. Using the gas-phase separations power of ion mobility showed that multiple conformations were adopted by relatively simple oligosaccharides. Ion mobility was also successfully used to determine fragment ion lineage of isobaric fragment ions, through inline separation between two differential fragmentation experiments.

published_or_final_version / Statistics and Actuarial Science / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Chemistry / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Data processing tools are valuable to the analytical chemist as they can speed up the analysis, and sometimes solve problems that are not feasible to solve in a traditional manner. However, the complexity of many data processing tools can make their use daunting for the inexperienced user. This thesis includes two applications and two tools for data processing. The first application focuses on minimizing the manual input, reducing the time required for a simple task. The second application required more manual input, in the form of parameter selection, but process far more data.  The data processing tools both include features that simplify the manual work required. The first by including visual diagnostics tools that helps in setting the parameters. The second via internal validation that makes the tool’s process more robust and reliable, and thereby less sensitive to small changes in the parameters. No matter how good or precise a data processing tool is, if it is so cumbersome that it is not used by the analytical chemists that need it, it is useless. Therefore, the main focus of this thesis is to make data processing easier. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 4: Submitted.</p>

The application of mass spectrometry to verification of the structure of 3-methyluridine (m³U) isolated by HPLC from normal human urine is described. m³U has been used as an internal standard for studies of urinary nucleosides, a practice that is discouraged with the confirmation of m³U as a naturally occurring compound. Mass spectrometry has been used for the identification of 5'-deoxyxanthosine (5'-dX) a novel nucleoside in normal human urine. Initial concern over availability of a reference sample of 5'-dX prompted investigations of the structure/fragmentation relationships of the TMS deratives of 2'-, 3'-, and 5'-deoxynucleosides toward differentiation between the three deoxynucleosides. Results are presented which allow discrimination between the model compounds, deoxyanalogs of adenosine. Subsequent to the deoxynucleoside fragmentation studies, a biosynthetically produced reference sample of 5'-dX became available for direct comparison of mass spectra and chromatographic retention times which, when combined with observations from the deoxynucleoside studies established the structure of 5'-dX. In response to the large number of mass spectra produced from the GC-MS analysis of a TMS derivatized urine sample, computer software has been written to aid in spectral analysis. Examples are shown in which the software uses established fragmentation rules to assign structure to ions in the mass spectrum and suggest modifications in the sugar portion of two urinary nucleosides. The structure/fragmentation relationships of the unique antitumor drug taxol has been studied by EI, CI and FAB mass spectrometry. Information is presented showing characteristic fragmentation of the side-chain and verification of functional groups attached to the taxane ring. Studies have been conducted to determine the relationship between target temperature and matrix and sample lifetime in the source of the mass spectrometer. Results are presented showing that cooling the target permits the use of matrix materials that are too volatile at ambient temperatures thus extending the range of compounds that can be studied by mass spectrometry. A recently constructed four-sector mass spectrometer is described with a detailed discussion of instrumental capabilities. Results of experiments designed to apply these capabilities to the structural analysis of TMS nucleosides using FAB ionization are discussed with an emphasis on the fragmentation unique to 4-sector daughter ion experiments compared with conventional studies and 2-sector daughter ion results.

A facile method for the synthesis of highly enriched ¹⁸O labeled pyrimidine ribonucleosides is described. The ribonucleoside may be labelled specifically in the base, the sugar, or both moieties with one or two oxygen-18 atoms. The isotopic purity of the products as well as the location of the oxygen-18 labels have been unambiguously determined by mass spectrometry. Stable isotope labeled analogs have been employed to determine the composition of several clinically significant nucleoside dialdehydes by mass spectrometry. Formation of the trimethylsilyl derivatives permits the gas chromatographic separation of the major components present in the equilibrium mixture. In addition to the expected hemiacetals and hydrates, a substantial amount of the dialdehydes exist in polymeric form. Fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry enabled observation of dimeric and trimeric species from the polymeric material present in the mixture.

Mass spectrometry is a powerful tool in the field of analytical chemistry. Though there have been numerous advances in mass analyzer technology over the decades, there has been comparatively little advancement in mass spectrometer detector technology. The development of the scientific charged-coupled device over 30 years ago brought the advantages of simultaneous detection over single channel detection to optical spectroscopy, including higher signal-to-noise ratios for a fixed analysis time, shorter analysis time to obtain a given signal-to-noise ratio, and greater sample throughput. While the use of array detectors to achieve simultaneous detection is commonplace in optical spectroscopy, ion detectors for mass spectrometry have lagged behind.Over the last decade, a new type of ion detector, the capacitive transimpedance amplifier (CTIA) array detector, has been developed that has a number of properties that make it an excellent tool for simultaneous detection using dispersive mass spectrometers. The CTIA array detector has high sensitivity as well as high gain stability, allowing it to excel in applications that require high precision measurements of ion signals, such as isotope ratio mass spectrometry.Capacitive transimpedance amplifier array detectors have previously been used to demonstrate the power of simultaneous detection on Mattauch-Herzog double focusing mass spectrometers, but the non-linear mass dispersion of these instruments means that the resolution is not constant across the array. A different type of dispersive instrument, the linear cycloid, has a linear mass dispersion, making it a good candidate for an array detector.The first detailed characterization of gain, read noise and dark-current noise, as well as of operating behavior over a range of temperatures, of the DM0025, a 1696 pixel CTIA array detector was performed.In addition, the first-ever combination of a CTIA array detector with a linear cycloid mass spectrometer was developed. This combined instrument demonstrated simultaneous detection of multiple masses, as well as a linear mass range. The results from the detailed characterization of the detector were used in conjunction with measurements of the performance of the combined instrument to suggest improvements for the next generation of linear cycloid instruments with CTIA array detectors.

Tandem mass spectrometry is widely used in proteomic studies because of its ability to identify large numbers of peptides from complex mixtures. In a typical LC-MS/MS experiment, thousands of tandem mass spectra will be collected and peptide identification algorithms are of great importance to translate them into peptide sequences. Though these spectra contain both m/z and intensity values, most popular protein identification algorithms primarily use predicted fragment m/z values to assign peptide sequences to fragmentation spectra. The intensity information is often undervalued, because it is not as easy to predict and incorporate into algorithms. Nevertheless, the use of intensity to assist peptide identification is an attractive prospect and can potentially improve the confidence of matches and generate more identifications. In this dissertation, an unsupervised statistical method, K-means clustering, was used to study peptide fragmentation patterns for both CID and ETD data, and many unique fragmentation features were discovered. For instance, strong c(n-1) ions were observed in ETD, indicating that the fragmentation site in ETD is highly related to the amino acid residue location. Based on the fragmentation patterns observed through data mining, a peptide identification algorithm that makes use of these patterns was developed. The program is named SQID and it is the first algorithm in our bioinformatics project. Our testing results using multiple public datasets indicated an improvement in the number of identified peptides compared with popular proteomics algorithms such as Sequest or X!Tandem. SQID was further extended to improve cross-linked peptide identification (SQID-XLink) as well as blind modification identification (SQID-Mod), and both of them showed significant improvement compared with existing methods. In this dissertation the SQID algorithm was also successfully applied to a mosquito proteomics project. We are incorporating new features and new algorithms to our software, such as more fragmentation methods, more accurate spectra prediction and more user-friendly interface. We hope the SQID project can continually benefit researchers and help to improve the data analysis of proteomics community.

No description available.