Passive and active fragment ion mass defect labeling: distinct proteomics potential of iodine-based reagents

The exact mass of a peptide differs characteristically from its nominal mass by a value called the mass defect. Limited by possible elemental compositions, the mass defect of peptides has a restricted range, resulting in an unoccupied mass spectral space in every mass-to-charge unit. The method of fragment ion mass defect labeling (FIMDL) places characteristic fragment ions of modified peptides as reporters into unused spectral space where no native peptide fragment ions exist. In this labeling method, peptides are chemically modified in solution and the modified peptides, upon gas-phase collision in a mass spectrometer, generate fragment ions with significantly shifted mass defects. In this work, the efficiency of iodine stable isotope-containing reagents for shifting mass defects of peptide fragment ions was systematically investigated, through derivatization of peptide N-termini with various reagents containing one or more chlorine, bromine, or iodine atoms. The observed efficiency for the iodine atom placing the labeled fragment ions into unoccupied spectral space agreed well with theoretical predictions from averagine-scaling analysis of ion masses. On the basis of the gas-phase stability of different labeling groups and their involvement in collisional dissociation of modified peptides, peptide modifications were classified into three categories: passive, type I active, and type II active. Each modification type has its unique potential in different proteome analyses. Possible proteomics applications of FIMDL are discussed and compared with proteome analyses currently being practiced in the field. Principles obtained from this survey study will provide a guideline in developing novel FIMDL reagents for advanced proteomics analysis.