Thread: Mass spec

Assuming that you have purified all the proteins present in a particular organelle membrane of interest in their native complexes, what would be the best type of mass spectrometry to use in order to try and identify the proteins? Would one type of mass spectrometry be preferable to another?

Best,

Tridimity

Electron impact ionisation (EI), pyrolysis mass spectrometry, chemical ionisation, field ionisation, field desorption, fast atom bombardment (FAB) ionisation, plasma desorption ionisation (PD), laser desorption ionisation (LD), thermospray ionisation source (TSI), electrospray (ESI) and ionspray ionisation (IS), magnetic sector analyser, electric sector analyser, quadrupole mass filters, ion trap, Faraday cup, array detectors, , tandem mass spectrometry, MS^2 in space, MS^n in time...

Does anybody have any idea which of these techniques would be most appropriate?

Tridimity

MALDI TOF (Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization / time-of-flight) MS seems to be a common choice when looking at proteins in the mitochondrial membrane, for example. I just goolged that, rather than using my own personal experience (which is zero, unfortunately).

Thanks, Zwirko