Peptide Structure and Radical Chemistry in the Gas Phase Revealed by Product Ion Abundance Analysis in Electron Capture and Transfer Dissociation Mass Spectrometry

Peptide and protein ion abundances in mass spectrometry (MS) and tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) may provide orthogonal, or complementary, information to their mass measurements. Collision induced dissociation (CID), the most commonly used MS/MS technique, demonstrates high variability of fragmentation pathways and their relative product abundances as a function of experimental parameters. Moreover, a reliable prediction of relative abundances of CID products is possible only for relatively small systems, but not for larger biomolecules. Recently developed radical-induced fragmentation techniques, e.g., electron capture and transfer dissociation (ECD/ETD), appear to demonstrate more repeatable and reproducible fragmentation patterns. However, it has been reported that ECD/ETD product ion abundance distribution for peptides is rather flat and extracting additional peptide sequence information is yet to be done. In the present work, an attempt is made to understand the peptide's ECD/ETD product ion abundance formation fundamentals and to reveal the possible implications of this source of information for improving peptide and protein structural characterization. Specifically, we have shown that ECD/ETD of peptides is sensitive to the chemical environment in terms of peptide primary structure (amino acid nature) and possibly higher order structure (hydrogen bond connectivity). After demonstrating the analytical validity of the ECD/ETD product ion abundance methodology, its parameter dependence and its applicability to different experimental setups, results will be presented and rationalized along two main axes of comprehension: gas phase peptide radical chemistry and structure. Whereas fundamental aspects of ECD/ETD (mechanism, thermodynamics) can be addressed with the former, additional ECD/ETD yield modulations were observed and presumably relate to structural properties of ions in the gas phase. ECD specificity will be demonstrated on the class of amphipathic peptides, where periodicity is revealed in product ion abundance and correlated to peptide primary and secondary structure. To decipher between both contributions, sequence variations of amphipathic peptides were probed by ECD and correlated to gas phase structures suggested by ion mobility mass spectrometry and supported by molecular dynamics computations. After probing amino acid side chain influence, unraveling the chemical environment specificity of ECD/ETD led us to investigate peptide backbone modifications. Peptides containing beta amino acids revealed two main effects in ECD and ETD. We demonstrate that individual substitutions yield c and z type fragments only for amino acids that provide sufficient z• radical stabilization, whereas multiple substitutions shift the preferential fragmentation pathway to the otherwise minor a-type ion formation pathway indicating possible change in peptide protonation. Finally, understanding the partitioning of radical ions between N- and C-terminal fragments led us to investigate ion internal energy dependence. The extent of hydrogen atom transfer, the [c+z] complex lifetime and secondary fragmentation pathways (w-type ion formation) are directly modulated by ion internal energy as demonstrated by decoupling ETD from charge reduced CID. To summarize, ECD/ETD product ion abundance methodology developed in the thesis advances biomolecule radical chemistry understanding and provides a potentially useful methodology for peptide and protein structural characterization.

Principles of electron capture and transfer dissociation mass spectrometry applied to peptide and protein structure analysis

Luca Fornelli, Unige Anna Laskay, Yury Tsybin, Matthew Wodrich, Konstantin Zhurov

This tutorial review describes the principles and practices of electron capture and transfer dissociation (ECD/ETD or ExD) mass spectrometry (MS) employed for peptide and protein structure analysis. ExD MS relies on interactions between gas phase peptide or protein ions carrying multiple positive charges with either free low-energy (similar to 1 eV) electrons (ECD), or with reagent radical anions possessing an electron available for transfer (ETD). As a result of recent implementation on sensitive, high resolution, high mass accuracy, and liquid chromatography timescale-compatible mass spectrometers, ExD, more specifically, ETD MS has received particular interest in life science research. In addition to describing the fundamental aspects of ExD radical ion chemistry, this tutorial provides practical guidelines for peptide de novo sequencing with ExD MS, as well as reviews some of the current capabilities and limitations of these techniques. The merits of ExD MS are discussed primarily within the context of life science research.

Royal Soc Chemistry2013

Novel Approaches in Tandem Mass Spectrometry for Peptide and Protein Structure Analysis

Aleksey Vorobyev

Results of the mechanistic studies of free-electron based fragmentation methods addressing peptide and protein structure analysis with mass spectrometry (MS), electron capture dissociation (ECD) and electron ionization dissociation (EID), are presented. Series of model peptides, H-RAAAA-X-AAAAK-OH and H-RGGGG-X-GGGGK-OH, were rationally designed and studied to understand the role of a single amino acid residue on ECD process. The results show a direct correlation of ECD product ion abundance (PIA) with amino acid hydrophobicity and radical stability of the central amino acid, X, in model peptides. Moreover, comparison of ECD PIA distributions for polyalanine- and polyglycine -based peptides, despite a substantial structure differences between them, demonstrates a high correlation (R=0.86) as well. Ion activation prior to ECD qualitatively preserves the PIA correlation with hydrophobicity, however redistributes the fragmentation channels. This redistribution can be rationalized in terms of: (i) further dissociation of product ions, due to the excess of ion internal energy; (ii) expansion of precursor ion conformational landscape reducing the conformational specificity in localization of unpaired electron and allowing competition of different reactive groups to induce the backbone cleavage. In particular, the competition between N-terminal R, C-terminal K and central X side chains to participate in formation of aminoketyl radicals was considered to explain the central residue specific formation of z5 and [z6-H] ions; and to explain the shift of branching ratio between c- and z-ions toward the formation of c-ions. Further studies were focused on the studying of free electron – ion interaction cross sections. The difference in low energy electron capture cross sections (CSs) of ECD product ions was found to correlate with ECD PIA pattern being a function of electron irradiation period in ECD. The developed experimental methodology and ECD kinetic model were applied to deduce the dissociation rate constants and electron capture CSs from ECD PIA values. The observed correlation between low energy electron capture CSs and ion mobility (IM) CSs provides interesting material for further studies. Finally, characterization of interaction between high energy (50-100 eV) electrons and protein ions in EID demonstrates that the EID cross sections are proportional (R = 0.98), and of the same order of magnitude, to the values of the IM CSs. The results support the feasibility of employing the EID MS for accurate estimation of the geometrical cross sections of gaseous biomolecular ions as a method of biomolecular structure analysis. To summarize, improved understanding in (i) radical chemistry beyond standard ECD parameters and (ii) electron – ion interactions with respect to the ion structure increases the quantity and quality of information possible to achieve by MS/MS, and, therefore, provides a strong basis for further improvements in peptide and protein structure characterization as well as understanding of energy absorption and relaxation process in biomolecules.

EPFL2012

Periodic Sequence Distribution of Product Ion Abundances in Electron Capture Dissociation of Amphipathic Peptides and Proteins

Hisham Ben Hamidane, Yury Tsybin

The rules for product ion formation in electron capture dissociation (ECD) mass spectrometry of peptides and proteins remain unclear. Random backbone cleavage probability and the nonspecific nature of ECD toward amino acid sequence have been reported, contrary to preferential channels of fragmentation in slow heating-based tandem mass spectrometry. Here we demonstrate that for amphipathic peptides and proteins, modulation of ECD product ion abundance (PIA) along the sequence is pronounced. Moreover, because of the specific primary (and presumably secondary) structure of amphipathic peptides, PIA in ECD demonstrates a clear and reproducible periodic sequence distribution. On the one hand, the period of ECD PIA corresponds to periodic distribution of spatially separated hydrophobic and hydrophilic domains within the peptide primary sequence. On the other hand, the same period correlates with secondary structure units, such as a-helical turns, known for solution-phase structure. Based on a number of examples, we formulate a set of characteristic features for ECD of amphipathic peptides and proteins: (1) periodic distribution of PIA is observed and is reproducible in a wide range of ECD parameters and on different experimental platforms; (2) local maxima of PIA are not necessarily located near the charged site; (3) ion activation before ECD not only extends product ion sequence coverage but also preserves ion yield modulation; (4) the most efficient cleavage (e.g. global maximum of ECD PIA distribution) can be remote from the charged site; (5) the number and location of PIA maxima correlate with amino acid hydrophobicity maxima generally to within a single amino acid displacement; and (6) preferential cleavage sites follow a selected hydrogen spine in an a-helical peptide segment. Presently proposed novel insights into ECD behavior are important for advancing understanding of the ECD mechanism, particularly the role of peptide sequence on PIA. An improved ECD model could facilitate protein sequencing and improve identification of unknown proteins in proteomics technologies. In structural biology, the periodic/preferential product ion yield in ECD of a-helical structures potentially opens the way toward de novo site-specific secondary structure determination of peptides and proteins in the gas phase and its correlation with solution-phase structure. (J Am Soc Mass Spectrom 2009, 20, 1182-1192) (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of American Society for Mass Spectrometry