LC-MS 'a core process' in proteomics

Liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS) is a core element in modern proteomics research, reports BMC Bioinformatics.

In its supplement Proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Genome Informatics (GIW2010) the journal carries a study of MS-based proteomic data from a team at the University of Michigan and Chinese Academy of Sciences.

They write how LC-MS has become a crucial process in proteomics, allowing proteins to be digested into peptides using trypsin or some other proteolytic enzyme.

Mixtures derived from this procedure are then separated through chromatography, with either single- or multi-dimensional segregation used.

Finally, MS sequences the peptides for comparison against a database of known protein sequences.

The team's comments come amid efforts to assign a greater number of high-quality spectra than the current database comparison of known sequences is capable of achieving.

BMC Bioinformatics specialises in studies of ways to progress the use of biological data in research analysis.