Targeted protein characterization by mass spectrometry

摘要

A method for characterizing a target protein comprising the steps of: providing a library of measured reference mass spectra of reference proteins wherein each reference mass spectrum is acquired for an enzymatic digest of one reference protein; enzymatically digesting the target protein; acquiring a mass spectrum for the enzymatically digested target; determining similarity scores for intensity patterns of the mass spectrum and the reference mass spectra and characterizing the target protein by assigning the target protein to a reference protein having a reference mass spectrum with a similarity score above a predetermined threshold. The reference proteins may be different isoforms of the target protein which may be formed by alternative splicing, sequence variation, post-transcriptional modification or stress-induced modification.