Volume 135, Issue 51 e202314980
Forschungsartikel

Distinguishing Protein Chemical Topologies Using Supercharging Ion Mobility Spectrometry-Mass Spectrometry

Jiyeon Lee

Jiyeon Lee

Department of Chemistry, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), 77 Cheongam-ro, Nam-gu, Pohang, 37673 Gyeonsangbuk-do (Republic of, Korea

Contribution: Data curation (lead), Formal analysis (equal), Visualization (lead), Writing - original draft (lead), Writing - review & editing (supporting)

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Dahye Im

Dahye Im

Department of Chemistry, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), 77 Cheongam-ro, Nam-gu, Pohang, 37673 Gyeonsangbuk-do (Republic of, Korea

Contribution: Data curation (supporting), Formal analysis (equal), Visualization (supporting), Writing - original draft (supporting), Writing - review & editing (supporting)

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Yajie Liu

Yajie Liu

Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Polymer Chemistry & Physics of Ministry of Education, Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871 P. R. China

Contribution: Resources (equal)

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Jing Fang

Jing Fang

Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Polymer Chemistry & Physics of Ministry of Education, Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871 P. R. China

Contribution: Resources (equal)

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Xibao Tian

Xibao Tian

Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Polymer Chemistry & Physics of Ministry of Education, Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871 P. R. China

Contribution: Resources (equal)

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Minsu Kim

Minsu Kim

Department of Chemistry, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), 77 Cheongam-ro, Nam-gu, Pohang, 37673 Gyeonsangbuk-do (Republic of, Korea

Contribution: Data curation (supporting), Validation (supporting)

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Prof. Wen-Bin Zhang

Corresponding Author

Prof. Wen-Bin Zhang

Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Polymer Chemistry & Physics of Ministry of Education, Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871 P. R. China

Contribution: Conceptualization (equal), Funding acquisition (equal), ​Investigation (equal), Project administration (supporting), Writing - review & editing (equal)

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Prof. Jongcheol Seo

Corresponding Author

Prof. Jongcheol Seo

Department of Chemistry, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), 77 Cheongam-ro, Nam-gu, Pohang, 37673 Gyeonsangbuk-do (Republic of, Korea

Contribution: Conceptualization (equal), Funding acquisition (equal), ​Investigation (lead), Project administration (lead), Validation (lead), Writing - review & editing (lead)

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First published: 08 November 2023

Abstract

A technique combining ion mobility spectrometry-mass spectrometry (IMS-MS) and supercharging electrospray ionization (ESI) has been demonstrated to differentiate protein chemical topology effectively. Incorporating as many charges as possible into proteins via supercharging ESI allows the protein chains to be largely unfolded and stretched, revealing their hidden chemical topology. Different chemical topologies result in differing geometrical sizes of the unfolded proteins due to constraints in torsional rotations in cyclic domains. By introducing new topological indices, such as the chain-length-normalized collision cross-section (CCS) and the maximum charge state (zM) in the extensively unfolded state, we were able to successfully differentiate various protein chemical topologies, including linear chains, ring-containing topologies (lasso, tadpole, multicyclics, etc.), and mechanically interlocked rings, like catenanes.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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