Comparison of the spectra obtained for a lactosylated peptide under CID and ETD fragmentation conditions. CID (A) and ETD (B) tandem mass spectra of the [M+4H]4+ ion at m/z 804.41, which was associated with the tryptic lactosylated peptide (74–99) from lactotransferrin; k represents lactose adduct to lysine. The spectra were acquired with alternating CID and ETD scanning. Identified fragment ions are labeled above and below the peptide sequence in both panels.
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In order to overcome the sequencing limitations associated with CID fragmentation of Amadori product-containing species, researchers developed a dedicated method based on electron transfer dissociation (ETD) analysis (Arena et al., 2010). Under these experimental conditions, neither furylium ions nor ions corresponding to NL of water molecules from the modified amino acid were detected, thus highlighting that the adducted residue is stable during ETD fragmentation. The cleavage of above-mentioned chemical bonds was independent on side-chain modification and peptide composition. The intensity and near-completeness of the different c- and z-type ions present in the spectrum, independently from the location of the modified amino acid in the polypeptide chain, makes easy peptide sequencing and adducted residue assignment. During analysis, the number of modified peptides identified was increased using supplemental collisional activation after electron transfer ( Arena, Renzone, Novi, & Scaloni, 2011). This condition is exemplified in Fig. 3B, showing peptide fragmentation with supplemental collisional activation under ETD conditions of the [M+4H]4+ ion from the lactosylated peptide (74–99) present in modified lactotransferrin. Unlike what was found in the case of CID fragmentation (Fig. 3A), abundant sequence-informative c- and z-type ions were observed, greatly facilitating peptide sequencing and assignment of the adducted amino acid. These studies were demonstrative of the essential role played by ETD-based methods in shotgun proteomic analysis of heat-dependent milk modifications.