Analyses of Histone Proteoforms Using Front-end Electron Transfer Dissociation-enabled Orbitrap Instruments
Lissa C. Anderson, Kelly R. Karch, Scott A. Ugrin, Mariel Coradin, A. Michelle English, Simone Sidoli, Jeffrey Shabanowitz, Benjamin A. Garcia and Donald F. Hunt
Molecular & Cellular Proteomics (2016), 15, 975-988
Histones are the main protein component of chromatin and play a major role in the regulation of gene expression through complex patterns of post-translational modifications, histone variants, and proteolysis. To overcome some of the current limitations in the MS characterization of these histones, the authors have developed a new approach using a modified Orbitrap instrument.
They were able to greatly increase the fragment ion current by putting a reagent ion source in the front of the instrument, and using the C-trap for the storage of fragments from multiple iterations of ion/ion reactions. After sufficient accumulation, the ions were then transferred to the Orbitrap for measurement. This improves signal to noise and enables the acquisition of good quality spectra on a time scale more compatible with LC.
Histones from butyrate-treated HeLa cells were analyzed by top down LC/MS/MS using ETD. Several unique histone proteoforms were identified with up to 81% sequence coverage, and with a variety of modifications such as single amino acid substitutions, methylations, and acetylations. Additionally, truncated forms of histones H2A and H2B were characterized with up to 93% sequence coverage. |