Thermo Fisher Scientific has announced an application note that illustrates the capabilities of dual-pressure linear ion-trap technology for the investigation of proteome dynamics.
The note, entitled 'Novel Dual-Pressure Linear Ion-Trap Mass Spectrometer Offers Breakthrough Performance in Proteomics Experiments', is available to download from Thermo Fisher Scientific's website.
The application note assessed the performance of the Thermo Scientific LTQ Velos ion-trap mass spectrometer for the analysis of a complex, multi-organ peptide digest of Caenorhabditis elegans (C elegans).
The LTQ Velos ion-trap mass spectrometer is said to offer improvements in speed and sensitivity, providing greater coverage in the analysis of complex peptide mixtures and increasing the confidence of protein identification at low sample levels.
Tandem mass spectrometry, particularly using linear ion traps and trap-based hybrid mass spectrometers, is said to have become a leading technology for peptide and protein identification.
The preference for this technology is due to its ease-of-use as well as its superior MS and MS/MS performance.
The multiple fragmentation techniques available on the LTQ Velos enable more confident sequence assignment and post-translational modification (PTM) identification.
Faster scan rates also reduce cycle times, increasing the number of proteins and peptides identified.
The application note describes an effective method for the analysis of peptides and proteins using the LTQ Velos mass spectrometer.
To compare and benchmark performance, the company ran analyses on both a Thermo Scientific LTQ XL linear ion-trap mass spectrometer and a quadrupole time-of-flight (Q-TOF) mass spectrometer.
The study used data-dependent tandem acquisition methods, and the team separated a proteolytic digest of C elegans using reverse-phase chromatography for each LC-MS/MS run.
The analysis revealed that the LTQ Velos identifies ~240 per cent more proteins and ~130 per cent more distinct peptides from a highly complex sample than is possible with the Q-TOF.
