Deep Top-Down Proteomics Using Capillary Zone Electrophoresis-Tandem Mass Spectrometry: Identification of 5700 Proteoforms from the Escherichia coli Proteome

Anal Chem. 2018 May 1;90(9):5529-5533. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.8b00693. Epub 2018 Apr 9.

Abstract

Capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE)-tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) has been recognized as a useful tool for top-down proteomics. However, its performance for deep top-down proteomics is still dramatically lower than widely used reversed-phase liquid chromatography (RPLC)-MS/MS. We present an orthogonal multidimensional separation platform that couples size exclusion chromatography (SEC) and RPLC based protein prefractionation to CZE-MS/MS for deep top-down proteomics of Escherichia coli. The platform generated high peak capacity (∼4000) for separation of intact proteins, leading to the identification of 5700 proteoforms from the Escherichia coli proteome. The data represents a 10-fold improvement in the number of proteoform identifications compared with previous CZE-MS/MS studies and represents the largest bacterial top-down proteomics data set reported to date. The performance of the CZE-MS/MS based platform is comparable to the state-of-the-art RPLC-MS/MS based systems in terms of the number of proteoform identifications and the instrument time.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Electrophoresis, Capillary
  • Escherichia coli / chemistry*
  • Escherichia coli Proteins / analysis*
  • Proteome / analysis*
  • Proteomics*
  • Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Substances

  • Escherichia coli Proteins
  • Proteome