IMPROVED METHODS OF IDENTIFYING PEPTIDES AND PROTEINS BY MASS SPECTROMETRY

摘要

A method of identifying a protein, polypeptide orpeptide by means of mass spectrometry and especially by tandemmass spectrometry is disclosed. The method preferably modelsthe fragmentation of a peptide or protein in a tandem massspectrometer to facilitate comparison with an experimentallydetermined spectrum. A fragmentation model is used which takesaccount of all possible fragmentation pathways which aparticular sequence of amino acids may undergo. A peptide orprotein may be identified by comparing an experimentallydetermined mass spectrum with spectra predicted using such afragmentation model from a library of known peptides orproteins. Alternatively, a de novo method of determining theamino acid sequence of an unknown peptide using such afragmentation model may be used.