Mass spectrometry-based detection of protein acetylation

Improved sample preparation techniques and increasingly sensitive mass spectrometry (MS) analysis have revolutionized the study of protein post-translational modifications (PTMs) (Rush et al., Nat Biotechnol 23:94-101, 2005). Here, we describe a general approach for immunopurification and MS-based identification of acetylated proteins in biological samples. This approach is useful to characterize changes in the acetylome in response to biological interventions (Schwer et al., Aging Cell 8:604-606, 2009).