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Ni Z, Arevalo R, Bardyn A, Willhite L, Ray S, Southard A, Danell R, Graham J, Li X, Chou L, Briois C, Thirkell L, Makarov A, Brinckerhoff W, Eigenbrode J, Junge K, Nunn BL. Detection of Short Peptides as Putative Biosignatures of Psychrophiles via Laser Desorption Mass Spectrometry. ASTROBIOLOGY 2023; 23:657-669. [PMID: 37134219 DOI: 10.1089/ast.2022.0138] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
Studies of psychrophilic life on Earth provide chemical clues as to how extraterrestrial life could maintain viability in cryogenic environments. If living systems in ocean worlds (e.g., Enceladus) share a similar set of 3-mer and 4-mer peptides to the psychrophile Colwellia psychrerythraea on Earth, spaceflight technologies and analytical methods need to be developed to detect and sequence these putative biosignatures. We demonstrate that laser desorption mass spectrometry, as implemented by the CORALS spaceflight prototype instrument, enables the detection of protonated peptides, their dimers, and metal adducts. The addition of silicon nanoparticles promotes the ionization efficiency, improves mass resolving power and mass accuracies via reduction of metastable decay, and facilitates peptide de novo sequencing. The CORALS instrument, which integrates a pulsed UV laser source and an Orbitrap™ mass analyzer capable of ultrahigh mass resolving powers and mass accuracies, represents an emerging technology for planetary exploration and a pathfinder for advanced technique development for astrobiological objectives. Teaser: Current spaceflight prototype instrument proposed to visit ocean worlds can detect and sequence peptides that are found enriched in at least one strain of microbe surviving in subzero icy brines via silicon nanoparticle-assisted laser desorption analysis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ziqin Ni
- University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
| | | | - Anais Bardyn
- University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
| | | | - Soumya Ray
- University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
| | | | - Ryan Danell
- Danell Consulting, Winterville, North Carolina, USA
| | - Jacob Graham
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA
| | - Xiang Li
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA
| | - Luoth Chou
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA
- Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Christelle Briois
- Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie de l'Environnement et de l'Espace, Orléans, France
| | - Laurent Thirkell
- Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie de l'Environnement et de l'Espace, Orléans, France
| | | | | | | | - Karen Junge
- University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Brook L Nunn
- University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
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Hamdi A, Hosu IS, Coffinier Y. Influence of buried oxide layers of nanostructured SOI surfaces on matrix-free LDI-MS performances. Analyst 2020; 145:1328-1336. [PMID: 31942880 DOI: 10.1039/c9an02181g] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
In this paper, we report on the nanostructuration of the silicon crystalline top layer of different "home-made" SOI substrates presenting various buried oxide (BOx) layer thicknesses. The nanostructuration was achieved via a one-step metal assisted chemical etching (MACE) procedure. The etched N-SOI substrate surfaces were then characterized by AFM, SEM and photoluminescence. To investigate their laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry performances, the different surfaces have been assessed towards peptide mixtures. We have shown that the matrix-free LDI process occurred from surface heating after laser irradiation and was fostered by thermal confinement in the thin nanostructured Si surface layer. This thermal confinement was enhanced with the increase of the buried oxide layer thickness until an optimal thickness of 200 nm for which the best results in terms of signal intensities, peptide discrimination and spot to spot and surface to surface variations were found.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abderrahmane Hamdi
- Univ. Lille, CNRS, Centrale Lille, ISEN, Univ. Valenciennes, IEMN, UMR CNRS 8520, Avenue Poincaré, BP 60069, 59652 Villeneuve d'Ascq, France.
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Tsao CW, Lin YJ, Chen PY, Yang YL, Tan SH. Nanoscale silicon surface-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry: environment stability and activation by simple vacuum oven desiccation. Analyst 2018; 141:4973-81. [PMID: 27315049 DOI: 10.1039/c6an00659k] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Nanoscale silicon surface-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (SALDI-MS) is an emerging matrix-free, highly sensitive MS analysis method. An important challenge in using nanoscale silicon SALDI-MS analysis is the aging and stability of silicon after storage in various environments. No proper nanoscale silicon SALDI-MS activation procedure has been reported to solve this issue. This study investigated the sensitivity, wettability, and surface oxidation behavior of nanoscale silicon surface SALDI-MS in a room, an inert gas atmosphere, and a vacuum environment. A simple vacuum oven desiccation was proposed to activate the SALDI-MS surface, and the limit of detection was further enhanced 1000 times to a 500 attomole level using this approach. The long-term stability and desorption/ionization mechanism were also investigated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chia-Wen Tsao
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Central University, No. 300, Zhongda Rd., Taoyuan, Taiwan.
| | - Yuan-Jing Lin
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Central University, No. 300, Zhongda Rd., Taoyuan, Taiwan.
| | - Pi-Yu Chen
- Agricultural Biotechnology Research Center, Academia Sinica, 128 Academia Road, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Yu-Liang Yang
- Agricultural Biotechnology Research Center, Academia Sinica, 128 Academia Road, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Say Hwa Tan
- Queensland Micro- and Nanotechnology Centre, Griffith University, 170 Kessels Road, Brisbane, Australia
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Kim SH, Shon HK, Lee TG, Han SY. Thin film surfaces suitable to multimodal ionization for TOF-SIMS and LDI mass spectrometry of biomolecules. SURF INTERFACE ANAL 2014. [DOI: 10.1002/sia.5515] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Shin Hye Kim
- Center for Nano-Bio Convergence; Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science; Daejeon 305-340 Republic of Korea
- Department of Chemistry; Chungnam National University; Daejeon 305-764 Republic of Korea
| | - Hyun Kyong Shon
- Center for Nano-Bio Convergence; Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science; Daejeon 305-340 Republic of Korea
| | - Tae Geol Lee
- Center for Nano-Bio Convergence; Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science; Daejeon 305-340 Republic of Korea
| | - Sang Yun Han
- Department of Nanochemistry; Gachon University; Seongnam-si Gyeonggi-do 461-701 Republic of Korea
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Cho E, Ahn M, Kim YH, Kim J, Kim S. Protons are one of the limiting factors in determining sensitivity of nano surface-assisted (+)-mode LDI MS analyses. JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR MASS SPECTROMETRY 2013; 24:1489-1492. [PMID: 23955002 DOI: 10.1007/s13361-013-0713-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2013] [Revised: 07/01/2013] [Accepted: 07/12/2013] [Indexed: 06/02/2023]
Abstract
A proton source employing a nanostructured gold surface for use in (+)-mode laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry (LDI-MS) was evaluated. Analysis of perdeuterated polyaromatic hydrocarbon compound dissolved in regular toluene, perdeuterated toluene, and deuterated methanol all showed that protonated ions were generated irregardless of solvent system. Therefore, it was concluded that residual water on the surface of the LDI plate was the major source of protons. The fact that residual water remaining after vacuum drying was the source of protons suggests that protons may be the limiting reagent in the LDI process and that overall ionization efficiency can be improved by incorporating an additional proton source. When extra proton sources, such as thiolate compounds and/or citric acid, were added to a nanostructured gold surface, the protonated signal abundance increased. These data show that protons are one of the limiting components in (+)-mode LDI MS analyses employing nanostructured gold surfaces. Therefore, it has been suggested that additional efforts are required to identify compounds that can act as proton donors without generating peaks that interfere with mass spectral interpretation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eunji Cho
- Department of Chemistry, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, 702-701, Republic of Korea
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