ERIC Number: EJ1253674
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2020-May
Pages: 6
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0021-9584
EISSN: N/A
Hands-On Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry for Undergraduate Biochemistry Students: Peptide Identification by Ladder Sequencing
Perera, Viveka; Acharya, Baku; Patrick, Amanda L.; Mlsna, Deb
Journal of Chemical Education, v97 n5 p1437-1442 May 2020
Mass spectrometers are ever-increasingly powerful, user-friendly, and affordable. Thus, the addition of mass spectrometry experiments into the undergraduate laboratory curriculum is now both feasible and an effective tool to introduce students to relevant instrumentation. Here an experiment demonstrating the use of a high-resolution electrospray ionization mass spectrometer (ESI-HRMS) for the identification of peptide sequences and the differentiation of isomeric peptides was developed and implemented in a biochemistry laboratory course for third-year chemistry major undergraduate students. This lab activity was a first introduction to mass spectrometry for undergraduate biochemistry students. As a prelab assignment, students were tasked to predict the mass-to-charge ratios and the fragmentation patterns for six given peptides using an online fragmentation prediction tool (Protein Prospector's MS-Product tool). Students then analyzed two unknown peptides using ESI-HRMS. The theoretical and experimental results were compared to reveal the identity of the two unknown peptides. The student success rate of recognizing the unknown peptide sequences was 87.5%. This laboratory experiment provided students with hands-on experience using a research-grade ESI-HRMS instrument to solve a bioanalytical problem--specifically, the identification of the primary structure of a peptide of unknown sequence. Learning outcomes were evaluated for this experiment, which showed student understanding of peptide sequencing using mass spectrometry.
Descriptors: Undergraduate Students, Biochemistry, Majors (Students), Hands on Science, Spectroscopy, Laboratory Equipment, Science Laboratories, Science Experiments, Scientific Concepts, Laboratory Experiments, Problem Solving, College Science
Division of Chemical Education, Inc. and ACS Publications Division of the American Chemical Society. 1155 Sixteenth Street NW, Washington, DC 20036. Tel: 800-227-5558; Tel: 202-872-4600; e-mail: eic@jce.acs.org; Web site: http://pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A