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Updated: Aug 3, 2026

Analyzing Large Protein Complexes by Structural Mass Spectrometry
Published on: June 20, 2010
Selective detection of proteins in mixtures using electrospray ionization mass spectrometry: influence of
Seetharaman Vaidyanathan1, Douglas B Kell, Royston Goodacre
1Department of Chemistry, Faraday Building, Sackville Street, UMIST, P.O. Box 88, Manchester M60 1QD, UK. S.Vaidyanathan@umist.ac.uk
Abstract:
We studied the effects of electrospray mass spectrometric instrumental settings on the relative and absolute detection of individual proteins in a five-component mixture. Conditions that were effective for a given protein could be very poor for the others, and vice versa, such that to a good approximation it was possible to find conditions for selective detection of individual proteins in a complex mixture without prior analytical separation. Some of these could be rationalized on the basis of the known biophysical properties of the individual proteins. The ability to vary the conditions of a mass spectrometric detection method on-line provides an important degree of freedom for the selective detection, and hence discrimination, of individual proteins and peptides in complex mixtures and has implications in proteomics, in particular with respect to top-down strategies for proteomic characterizations.
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