PNNL

Abstract

Liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) has become a standard technique for analyzing complex peptide mixtures to determine composition and relative quantity. Several high-throughput proteomics techniques attempt to combine complementary results from multiple LC-MS and LC-MS/MS analyses to provide more comprehensive and accurate results. To effectively collate results from these techniques, variations in mass and elution time measurements between related analyses are corrected by using algorithms designed to align the various types of results: LC-MS/MS vs. LC-MS/MS, LC-MS vs. LC-MS/MS, and LC-MS vs. LC-MS. Described herein are new algorithms referred to collectively as Liquid Chromatography based Mass Spectrometric Warping and Alignment of Retention times of Peptides (LCMSWARP) which use a dynamic elution time warping approach similar to traditional algorithms that correct variation in elution time using piecewise linear functions. LCMSWARP is compared to a linear alignment algorithm that assumes a linear transformation of elution time between analyses. LCMSWARP also corrects for drift in mass measurement accuracies that are often seen in an LC-MS analysis due to factors such as analyzer drift. We also describe the alignment of LC-MS results and provide examples of alignment of analyses from different chromatographic systems to demonstrate more complex transformation functions.