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Identification of Protein N-Termini Using TMPP or Dimethyl Labeling and Mass Spectrometry

  • Jingjing Deng
  • Guoan Zhang
  • Fang-Ke Huang
  • Thomas A. NeubertEmail author
Protocol
Part of the Methods in Molecular Biology book series (MIMB, volume 1295)

Abstract

Determination of a protein’s N-terminal sequence can be important for the characterization of protein processing. To increase the confidence of protein N-terminal identification, chemical derivatization of the N-terminal amine group by (N-Succinimidyloxycarbonylmethyl)tris(2,4,6-trimethoxyphenyl)phosphonium bromide (TMPP) or dimethyl labeling followed by mass spectrometric analysis is commonly performed. Using this approach, proteins can be separated by SDS-PAGE, and the protein N-terminus of interest is labeled by TMPP or dimethyl in-gel before tryptic digestion and LC-MS analysis. The N-terminus of a protein can thus be easily identified because the N-terminal tryptic peptides are preferentially labeled. Peptides with N-terminal derivatization produce a better fragmentation pattern during tandem mass spectrometric analysis, which significantly facilitates sequencing of these peptides.

Key words

TMPP labeling Dimethyl labeling N-terminal sequence analysis Mass spectrometry 

Notes

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by NIH Shared Instrumentation Grant S10RR027990 and NINDS grant P30 NS050276 to T.A.N. We thank the ABRF Protein Sequencing Research Group (2013) for helpful protocols, reagents and advice.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

Authors and Affiliations

  • Jingjing Deng
    • 1
  • Guoan Zhang
    • 1
  • Fang-Ke Huang
    • 1
  • Thomas A. Neubert
    • 2
    Email author
  1. 1.Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Kimmel Center for Biology and Medicine at the Skirball InstituteNew York University School of MedicineNew YorkUSA
  2. 2.Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Kimmel Center for Biology and Medicine at the Skirball InstituteNew York University School of MedicineNew YorkUSA

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