Use of elevated electric fields and helium-rich gases has recently enabled differential IMS with resolving power up to R ~ 300. Here we applied that technique to proteins (namely, mass-selected ubiquitin ions), achieving R up to ~80 and separating many previously mixed conformers. While still limited by conformational multiplicity within each observed feature, this resolution is some four times the highest previously reported using either conventional or differential IMS. The capability for fine resolution of protein conformers may open new avenues for variant separation in top-down proteomics.
Revised: January 10, 2013 |
Published: January 17, 2013
Citation
Shvartsburg A.A., and R.D. Smith. 2013.High-Resolution Differential Ion Mobility Spectrometry of a Protein.Analytical Chemistry 85, no. 1:10-13.PNNL-SA-91957.doi:10.1021/ac3029129