Time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOF MS) is increasingly used in proteomics research. Herein, we report on the development and characterization of an ultra-sensitive TOF MS instrument equipped with an electrodynamic ion funnel trap (IFT) that employs an automatic gain control (AGC) capability. The IFT-TOF MS was coupled to a reverse-phase capillary liquid chromatography (RPLC) separation and evaluated in experiments with complex proteolytic digests. When applied to a global tryptic digest of Shewanella oneidensis proteins, an order-of-magnitude increase in sensitivity compared to that of the conventional continuous mode of operation was achieved due to efficient ion accumulation prior to TOF MS analysis. As a result of this sensitivity improvement and related improvement in mass measurement accuracy, the number of unique peptides identified in the AGC-IFT mode was 5-fold greater than that obtained in the continuous mode.
Revised: March 9, 2009 |
Published: July 15, 2008
Citation
Ibrahim Y.M., M.E. Belov, A.V. Liyu, and R.D. Smith. 2008.Automated Gain Control Ion Funnel Trap for Orthogonal Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry.Analytical Chemistry 80, no. 14:5367-5376.PNNL-SA-59266.doi:10.1021/ac8003488