Affecting proton mobility in activated peptide and whole protein ions via lysine guanidination

We have evaluated the effect of lysine guanidination in peptides and proteins on the dissociation of protonated ions in the gas phase. The dissociation of guanidinated model peptide ions compared to their unmodified forms showed behavior consistent with concepts of proton mobility as a major factor in determining favored fragmentation channels. Reduction of proton mobility associated with lysine guanidination was reflected by a relative increase in cleavages occurring C-terminal to aspartic acid residues as well as increases in small molecule losses. To evaluate the effect of guanidination on the dissociation behavior of whole protein ions, bovine ubiquitin was selected as a model. Essentially, all of the amide bond cleavages associated with the +10 charge state of fully guanidinated ubiquitin were observed to occur C-terminal to aspartic acid residues, unlike the dissociation behavior of the +10 ion of the unmodified protein, where competing cleavage N-terminal to proline and nonspecific amide bond cleavages were also observed. The +8 and lower charge states of the guanidinated protein showed prominent losses of small neutral molecules. This overall fragmentation behavior is consistent with current hypotheses regarding whole protein dissociation that consider proton mobility and intramolecular charge solvation as important factors in determining favored dissociation channels, and are also consistent with the fragmentation behaviors observed for the guanidinated model peptide ions. Further evaluation of the utility of condensed phase guanidination of whole proteins is necessary but the results described here confirm that guanidination can be an effective strategy for enhancing C-terminal aspartic acid cleavages. Gas phase dissociation exclusively at aspartic acid residues, especially for whole protein ions, could be useful in identifying and characterizing proteins via tandem mass spectrometry of whole protein ions.