Defying entropy: forming large head-to-tail macrocycles in the gas phase

A spectroscopic test suggests that fragment ion structure annotations in MS/MS libraries are frequently incorrect

Modern untargeted mass spectrometry (MS) analyses quickly detect and resolve thousands of molecular compounds. Although features are readily annotated with a molecular formula in high-resolution small-molecule MS applications, the large majority of them remains unidentified in terms of their full molecular structure. Collision-induced dissociation tandem mass spectrometry (CID-MS2) provides a diagnostic molecular fingerprint to resolve the molecular structure through a library search. However, for de novo identifications, one must often rely on in silico generated MS2 spectra as reference. The ability of different in silico algorithms to correctly predict MS2 spectra and thus to retrieve correct molecular structures is a topic of lively debate, for instance in the CASMI contest. Underlying the predicted MS2 spectra are the in silico generated product ion structures, which are normally not used in de novo identification, but which can serve to critically assess the fragmentation algorithms. Here we evaluate in silico generated MSn product ion structures by comparison with structures established experimentally by infrared ion spectroscopy (IRIS). For a set of three dozen product ion structures from five precursor molecules, we find that virtually all fragment ion structure annotations in three major in silico MS2 libraries (HMDB, METLIN, mzCloud) are incorrect and caution the reader against their use for structure annotation of MS/MS ions.

Cryogenic Ion Spectroscopy of a Singly Protonated Peptide DYYVVR: Locating Phosphorylation Sites of a Kinase Domain

Cryogenic ion spectroscopy (CIS) was applied to singly protonated DYYVVR, a tryptic peptide that contains the two active tyrosine residues (Y980 and Y981) of the Janus kinase 3 (JAK3) kinase domain, together with its point mutants (Y980F and Y981F) and phosphorylated peptides (pY980, pY981, and pY980pY981). The two tyrosine chromophores showed distinguishable UV absorption bands at around 35 200 and 35 450 cm^-1, respectively. By comparing with the point mutants, the lower electronic band was assigned to the absorption of Y981, and the higher one was assigned to Y980. When phosphorylated, the UV absorption of the phosphorylated chromophore shifts to higher energy above 36 500 cm^-1 but the unphosphorylated chromophore gives the absorption in the same region. Conformer-specific IR spectroscopy and density functional theory (DFT) calculations were used to tentatively assign the structure of DYYVVR. Two conformations were found, where Y981 is solvated by the protonated side chain of arginine R984, and the orientation of the carboxylic OH of D979 was different between the two. It is demonstrated that CIS can be used to distinguish the two tyrosine chromophores and to locate the phosphorylation site of a kinase domain.

Infrared ion spectroscopy: New opportunities for small-molecule identification in mass spectrometry - A tutorial perspective

Combining the individual analytical strengths of mass spectrometry and infrared spectroscopy, infrared ion spectroscopy is increasingly recognized as a powerful tool for small-molecule identification in a wide range of analytical applications. Mass spectrometry is itself a leading analytical technique for small-molecule identification on the merit of its outstanding sensitivity, selectivity and versatility. The foremost shortcoming of the technique, however, is its limited ability to directly probe molecular structure, especially when contrasted against spectroscopic techniques. In infrared ion spectroscopy, infrared vibrational spectra are recorded for mass-isolated ions and provide a signature that can be matched to reference spectra, either measured from standards or predicted using quantum-chemical calculations. Here we present an overview of the potential for this technique to develop into a versatile analytical method for identifying molecular structures in mass spectrometry-based analytical workflows. In this tutorial perspective, we introduce the reader to the technique of infrared ion spectroscopy and highlight a selection of recent experimental advances and applications in current analytical challenges, in particular in the field of untargeted metabolomics. We report on the coupling of infrared ion spectroscopy with liquid chromatography and present experiments that serve as proof-of-principle examples of strategies to address outstanding challenges.

Cryogenic Spectroscopy and Quantum Molecular Dynamics Determine the Structure of Cyclic Intermediates Involved in Peptide Sequence Scrambling

Collision-induced dissociation (CID) is a key technique used in mass spectrometry-based peptide sequencing. Collisionally activated peptides undergo statistical dissociation, forming a series of backbone fragment ions that reflect their amino acid (AA) sequence. Some of these fragments may experience a "head-to-tail" cyclization, which after proton migration, can lead to the cyclic structure opening in a different place than the initially formed bond. This process leads to AA sequence scrambling that may hinder sequencing of the initial peptide. Here we combine cryogenic ion spectroscopy and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations to isolate and characterize the precise structures of key intermediates in the scrambling process. The most stable peptide fragments show intriguing symmetric cyclic structures in which the proton is situated on a C2 symmetry axis and forms exceptionally short H-bonds (1.20 Å) with two backbone oxygens. Other nonsymmetric cyclic structures also exist, one of which is protonated on the amide nitrogen, where ring opening is likely to occur.

Linkage and anomeric differentiation in trisaccharides by sequential fragmentation and variable-wavelength infrared photodissociation

Carbohydrates and their derivatives play important roles in biological systems, but their isomeric heterogeneity also presents a considerable challenge for analytical techniques. Here, a stepwise approach using infrared multiple-photon dissociation (IRMPD) via a tunable CO2 laser (9.2-10.7 μm) was employed to characterize isomeric variants of glucose-based trisaccharides. After the deprotonated trisaccharides were trapped and fragmented to disaccharide C2 fragments in a Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FTICR) cell, a further variable-wavelength infrared irradiation of the C2 ion produced wavelength-dependent dissociation patterns that are represented as heat maps. The photodissociation patterns of these C2 fragments are shown to be strikingly similar to the photodissociation patterns of disaccharides with identical glycosidic bonds. Conversely, the photodissociation patterns of different glycosidic linkages exhibit considerable differences. On the basis of these results, the linkage position and anomericity of glycosidic bonds of disaccharide units in trisaccharides can be systematically differentiated and identified, providing a promising approach to characterize the structures of isomeric oligosaccharides.

Peptide scrambling during collision-induced dissociation is influenced by N-terminal residue basicity

'Bottom up' proteomic studies typically use tandem mass spectrometry data to infer peptide ion sequence, enabling identification of the protein whence they derive. The majority of such studies employ collision-induced dissociation (CID) to induce fragmentation of the peptide structure giving diagnostic b-, y-, and a- ions. Recently, rearrangement processes that result in scrambling of the original peptide sequence during CID have been reported for these ions. Such processes have the potential to adversely affect ion accounting (and thus scores from automated search algorithms) in tandem mass spectra, and in extreme cases could lead to false peptide identification. Here, analysis of peptide species produced by Lys-N proteolysis of standard proteins is performed and sequences that exhibit such rearrangement processes identified. The effect of increasing the gas-phase basicity of the N-terminal lysine residue through derivatization to homoarginine toward such sequence scrambling is then assessed. The presence of a highly basic homoarginine (or arginine) residue at the N-terminus is found to disfavor/inhibit sequence scrambling with a coincident increase in the formation of b(n-1)+H(2)O product ions. Finally, further analysis of a sequence produced by Lys-C proteolysis provides evidence toward a potential mechanism for the apparent inhibition of sequence scrambling during resonance excitation CID.

Gas-phase ion isomer analysis reveals the mechanism of peptide sequence scrambling

Peptide sequence scrambling during mass spectrometry-based gas-phase fragmentation analysis causes misidentification of peptides and proteins. Thus, there is a need to develop an efficient approach to probing the gas-phase fragment ion isomers related to sequence scrambling and the underlying fragmentation mechanism, which will facilitate the development of bioinformatics algorithm for proteomics research. Herein, we report on the first use of electron transfer dissociation (ETD)-produced diagnostic fragment ions to probe the components of gas-phase peptide fragment ion isomers. In combination with ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) and formaldehyde labeling, this novel strategy enables qualitative and quantitative analysis of b-type fragment ion isomers. ETD fragmentation produced diagnostic fragment ions indicative of the precursor ion isomer components, and subsequent IMS analysis of b ion isomers provided their quantitative and structural information. The isomer components of three representative b ions (b9, b10, and b33 from three different peptides) were accurately profiled by this method. IMS analysis of the b9 ion isomers exhibited dynamic conversion among these structures. Furthermore, molecular dynamics simulation predicted theoretical drift time values, which were in good agreement with experimentally measured values. Our results strongly support the mechanism of peptide sequence scrambling via b ion cyclization, and provide the first experimental evidence to support that the conversion from molecular precursor ion to cyclic b ion (M → (c)b) pathway is less energetically (or kinetically) favored.

Structures of biomolecular ions in the gas phase probed by infrared light sources

Infrared (IR) spectroscopy of biomolecular ions combines mass spectrometry's high sensitivity and ability to analyze complex mixtures with the enhanced structural information available from vibrational spectroscopy. IR spectroscopy is in principle well placed to distinguish isomers and allow chemical classification of unknown molecules. This review gives an outline of current instrumentation, spectroscopic approaches, and potential bottlenecks. We discuss the most promising applications in bioanalytical mass spectrometry in view of recent experimental results, as well as future applications based on bioinformatics.