Deamidation of asparaginyl and isomerization of aspartyl residues in proteins proceed through a succinimide intermediate producing a mixture of aspartyl and isoaspartyl residues. Isoaspartic acid is an isomer of aspartic acid with the C ␤ incorporated into the backbone, thus increasing the length of the protein backbone by one methylene unit. This post-translation modification is suspected to contribute to the aging of proteins and to protein folding disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, so that differentiating the two isomers becomes important. This manuscript reports that distinguishing aspartyl from isoaspartyl residues in peptides has been accomplished by electron capture dissociation (ECD) using a Fourier transform mass spectrometer (FTMS). Model peptides with aspartyl residues and their isoaspartyl analogs were examined and unique peaks corresponding to c n ·+58 and z ᐉ−n −57 fragment ions (n, position of Asp; ᐉ, total number of amino acids in the peptide) were found only in the spectra of the peptides with isoaspartyl residues. The proposed fragmentation mechanism involves cleavage of the C ␣ -C ␤ backbone bond, therefore splitting the isoaspartyl residue between the two fragments. Also, a complementary feature observed specific to aspartyl residues was the neutral loss of the aspartic acid side chain from the charge reduced species. CAD spectra of the peptides from the same instrument demonstrated the improved method because previously published CAD methods rely on the comparison to the spectra of standards with aspartyl residues. The potential use of the top-down approach to detect and resolve products from the deamidation of asparaginyl and isomerization of aspartyl residues is discussed.

Thin-layer chromatography (TLC), which is widely used for separation of glycolipids, oligosaccharides, lipids, and compounds of environmental and pharmaceutical interest, can be readily coupled to matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) time-of-flight mass spectrometers, but this arrangement usually compromises mass spectral resolution due to the irregularity of the TLC surface. However, TLC can be coupled to an external ion source MALDI-Fourier transform (FT) MS instrument without compromising mass accuracy and resolution of the spectra. Furthermore, when the FTMS has a vibrationally cooled MALDI ion source, fragile glycolipids can be desorbed from TLC plates without fragmentation, even to the point that desorption of intact molecules from "hot"matrixes such as alpha-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid is possible. In this work, whole brain gangliosides are separated using TLC; the TLC plates are attached directly to the MALDI target, where the gangliosides are desorbed, ionized, and detected in the FTMS with >70 000 resolving power.

Metastable decomposition of ions generated in matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometers complicates analysis of biological samples that have labile bonds. Recently, several academic laboratories and manufacturers of commercial instruments have designed instruments that introduce a cooling gas into the ion source during the MALDI event and have shown that the resulting vibrational cooling stabilizes these labile bonds. In this study, we compared stabilization and detection of desorbed gangliosides on a commercial orthogonal time-of-flight (oTOF) instrument with results we reported previously that had been obtained on a home-built Fourier transform mass spectrometer. Decoupling of the desorption/ ionization from the detection steps resulted in an opportunity for desorbing thin-layer chromatography (TLC)-separated gangliosides directly from a TLC plate without compromising mass spectral accuracy and resolution of the ganglioside analysis, thus coupling TLC and oTOF mass spectrometry. The application of a declustering potential allowed control of the matrix cluster and matrix adduct formation, and, thus, enhanced the detection of the gangliosides. during matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) analyses of molecules having labile bonds. Although this phenomenon can be used for obtaining analyte structural information for small peptides, oligosaccharides, and some glycolipids [1-5] for larger or more fragile molecules, it can limit the mass accuracy and resolution and complicate interpretation of the spectra of heterogeneous samples. Thus, it is important to develop methods that allow control of the extent of metastable decay. In addition to the pressure of the background gas and extraction field strength in the MALDI technique, the major factors affecting metastable fragmentation are laser wavelength/pulse width and the choice of the MALDI matrix [6,7]. In addition, the presence of electrons may play a role in analyte fragmentation and may cause suppression of multiply charged ions in a spectrum [8,9].Control of the metastable fragmentation in MALDI by increasing the pressure in the ionization source and reduction of the ions internal energy was first introduced by Loboda et al. on orthogonal time-of-flight (oTOF) instruments [10] and later extended to Fourier transform mass spectrometry (FTMS) [11] and to the operation at atmospheric pressure on various types of instruments [12]. These methods have since been used for stabilization of glycolipids [13,14] and peptides and proteins [11,15]. The term vibrational cooling (VC) MALDI recently has been introduced to describe desorption in the pressure range where cooling of the excess bond energy is achieved [12]. Stabilization of the labile bonds under these conditions allows for control of the extent of fragmentation, which is particularly

A new design for a high pressure MALDI-FTMS instrument is described and initial data are shown. The instrument incorporates a large, 10 cm x 10 cm, sample translation stage to accommodate and position the MALDI target. The new instrument allows coupling to a wide variety of surface techniques such as gel electrophoresis or surface plasmon resonance. Coupling to thin layer chromatography is shown. Furthermore, a new nozzle design allows high pressure collisional cooling sufficient to stabilize gangliosides while minimizing the gas load on the system.

No abstract