Rapid Generation of Accurate Information on Proteoform Distribution and Relative Abundance by UHR-QTOF MS

Over their life cycle, proteins undergo various transformations that can alter their functions while keeping a good part of their primary sequence intact. This multiplication of Post Translational Modifications (PTM) patterns, alternative splice forms or products of proteolytic processing cannot be easily resolved with a bottom-up approach, as very few peptides are specific from a given proteoform. However, the information relative to the distribution of different proteoforms can be seen in their intact mass profile. This application note explores the potential of the latest generation UHR-QTOF to quickly map the distribution and relative abundances of proteoforms in complex protein extracts.