Gas-phase ion isomer analysis reveals the mechanism of peptide sequence scrambling

Peptide sequence scrambling during mass spectrometry-based gas-phase fragmentation analysis causes misidentification of peptides and proteins. Thus, there is a need to develop an efficient approach to probing the gas-phase fragment ion isomers related to sequence scrambling and the underlying fragmentation mechanism, which will facilitate the development of bioinformatics algorithm for proteomics research. Herein, we report on the first use of electron transfer dissociation (ETD)-produced diagnostic fragment ions to probe the components of gas-phase peptide fragment ion isomers. In combination with ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) and formaldehyde labeling, this novel strategy enables qualitative and quantitative analysis of b-type fragment ion isomers. ETD fragmentation produced diagnostic fragment ions indicative of the precursor ion isomer components, and subsequent IMS analysis of b ion isomers provided their quantitative and structural information. The isomer components of three representative b ions (b9, b10, and b33 from three different peptides) were accurately profiled by this method. IMS analysis of the b9 ion isomers exhibited dynamic conversion among these structures. Furthermore, molecular dynamics simulation predicted theoretical drift time values, which were in good agreement with experimentally measured values. Our results strongly support the mechanism of peptide sequence scrambling via b ion cyclization, and provide the first experimental evidence to support that the conversion from molecular precursor ion to cyclic b ion (M → (c)b) pathway is less energetically (or kinetically) favored.