Fragmentation of proteins in the 13- to 29-kDa mass range observed by 252Cf-plasma desorption mass spectrometry.

Bunk, D M; Macfarlane, R D · Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · 1992

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Results are presented on the observation of sequence-specific fragmentation of proteins in the 13- to 29-kDa mass range (ribonuclease A, papain, and proteinase K) by 252Cf-plasma desorption mass spectrometry. For these proteins, extensive N-terminal an, cn + 2, and dn fragment ions are observed with mass accuracies approaching 200 ppm for the most prominent fragment ions. The fragmentation pattern of these proteins shows the same fundamental behavior (arginine-directed, charge-remote fragmentation) that is observed in the fragmentation of small peptides, indicating that similar processes are occurring when large proteins and small peptides fragment in plasma desorption mass spectrometry.

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