The Analysis of Biomolecules by Electrospray Ionization—Mass Spectrometry and Tandem Mass Spectrometry. In: Desiderio DM, editor. Mass Spectrometry. Boston: Springer US; 1992. pp. 37-98. [DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4899-1173-5_2]

Adenosylcobalamin-dependent ribonucleoside triphosphate reductase from Lactobacillus leichmannii. Rapid, improved purification involving dGTP-based affinity chromatography plus biophysical characterization studies demonstrating enhanced, "crystallographic level" purity

Ribonucleoside triphosphate reductase (RTPR, EC 1.17.4.2) from Lactobacillus leichmannii is a 5'-deoxyadenosylcobalamin-dependent (AdoCbl; Coenzyme B12) enzyme. RTPR is also a prototypical adenosylcobalamin-dependent ribonucleotide reductase, one that, as its name indicates, converts ribonucleoside triphosphates (NTP) to deoxyribonucleoside triphosphates (dNTP). Upon substrate binding to RTPR, AdoCbl's cobalt-carbon bond is cleaved to generate cob(II)alamin, 5'-deoxyadenosine, and the cysteine (C408) derived thiyl radical. Five key cysteines (Cys 119, 408, 419, 731, and 736), from among the ten total cysteines, are involved in RTPR's catalytic mechanism. A critical examination of the RTPR isolation and purification literature suggested that the purification protocol currently used results in RTPR which contains 2040% microheterogeneity, along with minor contamination by other proteins. In addition, no report of crystalline RTPR has ever appeared. The literature indicates that irreversible cysteine oxidation (e.g., to -SO2H or -SO3H) is one highly plausible reason for the microheterogeneity of RTPR. The literature also indicates that improvement in the level of enzyme purity is the most effective next step in coaxing enzymes to crystallize that have previously failed to do so. A shortened, improved purification of RTPR has been developed, one involving a shorter purification time, a lower pH, a higher concentration of the more effective reductant DTT (all designed to help protect the cysteines from oxidation), and a final step utilizing our recently reported, improved dGTP-based affinity chromatography resin. The resultant RTPR is approximately 20-30% higher in both specific activity and in its ability to undergo single turnovers, and is homogeneous by mass spectrometry and dynamic light scattering. Additionally, the revised purification procedure eliminates > 30 proteins present in 2-3% amounts along with damaged RTPR that does not bind properly (i.e. tightly) to the dGTP-affinity resin. Finally, dGTP-based affinity chromatography purified RTPR has yielded the first reported, albeit small, single crystals of RTPR.

Investigation of protein-protein noncovalent interactions in soybean agglutinin by electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Noncovalent interactions in soybean agglutinin (SBA) were studied on an electrospray ionization (ESI) time-of-flight mass spectrometer constructed recently at the University of Manitoba. The high m/z range and high sensitivity of the instrument together with mild ESI interface conditions turned out to be ideal for detecting this noncovalently bonded tetrameric protein (MW approximately 116,000 Da) in low charge states (z = 23 to 27). By altering the acetonitrile content of the SBA solutions it was shown that the observed SBA tetramers are due to structurally specific noncovalent associations in solution. Octamers and dodecamers (MW approximately 350,000 Da) were also detected. Information on the quaternary structure of the tetramers was obtained by analyzing the fragment-ion spectrum resulting from the collision-induced dissociation of the tetramer ions.