Accurate discrimination of leucine and isoleucine residues by combining continuous digestion with multiple MS3 spectra integration in protein sequence

peer-reviewed · Talanta · 2022

peer-reviewed · Talanta · 2022. Weijie Zhang et al. Protein de novo sequencing based on tandem mass spectrometry is a crucial technology that enables the…
Date 2022-11-01
Type peer-reviewed
Venue Talanta
Publisher Elsevier BV
Contribution adjacent
DOI 10.1016/j.talanta.2022.123666
Citations (OpenAlex) 9

Abstract

Protein de novo sequencing based on tandem mass spectrometry is a crucial technology that enables the identification of peptides without searching databases and assembling unknown sequence proteins, especially for monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). However, the discrimination of leucine (Leu) and isoleucine (Ile) residues in the target protein sequence is still challenging. Herein, we developed an accurate method by continuous digestion with MS 3 -based fragmentation and multiple spectra integration (evaluated by combined verification score, CVS) to distinguish Leu and Ile residues. Continuous digestion promotes the diversity of peptides in order to expose more Leu and Ile at the N-terminal. CVS integrates multiple MS 3 spectra to reduce the interference from noise and co-fragmented ions and improve accuracy. This method successfully resolved all 75 Leu/Ile in bovine serum albumin, especially 3 consecutive Leu/Ile. We further applied the method to analyze trastuzumab and 67 out of the 68 Leu/Ile from the light chain and heavy chain were accurately discriminated, demonstrating the great potential in mAbs sequencing.

Authors

  1. Weijie Zhang · Chinese Academy of Sciences, DP Technology Co., Ltd., Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
  2. Chao Yang · Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
  3. Jianhui Liu · Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics
  4. Zhen Liang · Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
  5. Yichu Shan · Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry
  6. Lihua Zhang · Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry
  7. Yukui Zhang · Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Methods and tools

  • Continuous digestion MS3 Leu/Ile discrimination: Combines continuous enzymatic digestion, to expose Leu/Ile at peptide N-termini, with a combined verification score over multiple MS3 spectra, resolving 67 of 68 Leu/Ile sites in trastuzumab.

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