Analytical techniques with high sensitivity and selectivity are essential to the quantitative analysis of clinical samples. Liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry is the gold... Show moreAnalytical techniques with high sensitivity and selectivity are essential to the quantitative analysis of clinical samples. Liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry is the gold standard in clinical chemistry. However, tandem mass spectrometers come at high capital expenditure and maintenance costs. We recently showed that it is possible to generate very similar results using a much simpler single mass spectrometry detector by performing enhanced in-source fragmentation/annotation (EISA) combined with correlated ion monitoring. Here we provide a step-by-step protocol for optimizing the analytical conditions for EISA, so anyone properly trained in liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry can follow and apply this technique for any given analyte. We exemplify the approach by using 2-hydroxyglutarate (2-HG) which is a clinically relevant metabolite whose d-enantiomer is considered an 'oncometabolite', characteristic of cancers associated with mutated isocitrate dehydrogenases 1 or 2 (IDH1/2). We include procedures for determining quantitative robustness, and show results of these relating to the analysis of dl-2-hydroxyglutarate in cells, as well as in serum samples from patients with acute myeloid leukemia that contain the IDH1/2 mutation. This EISA-mass spectrometry protocol is a broadly applicable and low-cost approach for the quantification of small molecules that has been developed to work well for both single-quadrupole and time-of-flight mass analyzers.The tandem mass spectrometers used in clinical chemistry are expensive. This protocol describes how to generate similar results using a single mass spectrometry detector by optimizing in-source fragmentation and data analysis via correlated ion monitoring. Show less
Aisporna, A.; Benton, H.P.; Chen, A.; Derks, R.J.E.; Galano, J.M.; Giera, M.; Siuzdak, G. 2022
Neutral loss (NL) spectral data presents a mirror of MS2 data and is a valuable yet largely untapped resource for molecular discovery and similarity analysis. Tandem mass spectrometry (MS2) data is... Show moreNeutral loss (NL) spectral data presents a mirror of MS2 data and is a valuable yet largely untapped resource for molecular discovery and similarity analysis. Tandem mass spectrometry (MS2) data is effective for the identification of known molecules and the putative identification of novel, previously uncharacterized molecules (unknowns). Yet, MS2 data alone is limited in characterizing structurally related molecules. To facilitate unknown identification and complement the METLIN-MS2 fragment ion database for characterizing structurally related molecules, we have created a MS2 to NL converter as a part of the METLIN platform. The converter has been used to transform METLIN's MS2 data into a neutral loss database (METLIN-NL) on over 860 000 individual molecular standards. The platform includes both the MS2 to NL converter and a graphical user interface enabling comparative analyses between MS2 and NL data. Examples of NL spectral data are shown with oxylipin analogues and two structurally related statin molecules to demonstrate NL spectra and their ability to help characterize structural similarity. Mirroring MS2 data to generate NL spectral data offers a unique dimension for chemical and metabolite structure characterization. Show less
Metabolite identification represents a major challenge, and opportunity, for biochemistry. The collective characterization and quantification of metabolites in living organisms, with its many... Show moreMetabolite identification represents a major challenge, and opportunity, for biochemistry. The collective characterization and quantification of metabolites in living organisms, with its many successes, represents a major biochemical knowledgebase and the foundation of metabolism's rebirth in the 21st century; yet, characterizing newly observed metabolites has been an enduring obstacle. Crystallography and NMR spectroscopy have been of extraordinary importance, although their applicability in resolving metabolism's fine structure has been restricted by their intrinsic requirement of sufficient and sufficiently pure materials. Mass spectrometry has been a key technology, especially when coupled with high-performance separation technologies and emerging informatic and database solutions. Even more so, the collective of artificial intelligence technologies are rapidly evolving to help solve the metabolite characterization conundrum. This perspective describes this challenge, how it was historically addressed, and how metabolomics is evolving to address it today and in the future. Show less
Xue, J.C.; Derks, R.J.E.; Hoang, L.; Giera, M.; Siuzdak, G. 2021
Enhanced in-source fragmentation/annotation (EISA) has recently been shown to produce fragment ions that match tandem mass spectrometry data across a wide range of small molecules. EISA has been... Show moreEnhanced in-source fragmentation/annotation (EISA) has recently been shown to produce fragment ions that match tandem mass spectrometry data across a wide range of small molecules. EISA has been developed to facilitate data-dependent acquisition (DDA), data-independent acquisiton ( DIA), and multiple-reaction monitoring (MRM), enabling molecular identifications in untargeted metabolomics and targeted quantitative single-quadrupole MRM (Q-MRM) analyses. Here, EISA has been applied to peptide-based proteomic analysis using optimized insource fragmentation to generate fragmentation patterns for a mixture of 38 peptides, which were comparable to the b- and y-type fragment ions typically observed in tandem MS experiments. The optimal in-source fragmentation conditions at which high-abundance peptide fragments and precursor ions coexist were compared with automated data-dependent acquisition (DDA) in the same quadrupole time-of-flight (QTOF-MS) mass spectrometer, generating a significantly higher fragment percentage of peptides from both singly and doubly charged b- and y-type fragment (b(+), y(+), b(2+), and y(2+)) ions. Higher fragment percentages were also observed for these fragment ion series over linear ion trap instrumentation. An XCMS-EISA annotation/deconvolution program was developed, making use of the retention time and peak shape continuity between precursor fragment ions, to perform automated proteomic data analysis on the enhanced in-source fragments. Post-translational modification (PTM) characterization on peptides was demonstrated with EISA, producing fragment ions corresponding to a neutral loss of phosphoric acid with greater intensity than observed with DDA on a QTOF-MS. Moreover, Q-MRM demonstrated the ability to use EISA for peptide quantification. The availability of more sophisticated in-source fragmentation informatics, beyond XCMS-EISA, will further enable EISA for sensitive autonomous identification and Q-MRM quantitative analyses in proteomics. Show less
Xue, J.C.A.; Derks, R.J.E.; Webb, B.; Billings, E.M.; Aisporna, A.; Giera, M.; Siuzdak, G. 2021
Single quadrupole mass spectrometry (MS) with enhanced in-source multiple fragment ion monitoring was designed to perform high sensitivity quantitative mass analyses. Enhanced in-source... Show moreSingle quadrupole mass spectrometry (MS) with enhanced in-source multiple fragment ion monitoring was designed to perform high sensitivity quantitative mass analyses. Enhanced in-source fragmentation amplifies fragmentation from traditional soft electrospray ionization producing fragment ions that have been found to be identical to those generated in tandem MS. We have combined enhanced in-source fragmentation data with criteria established by the European Union Commission Directive 2002/657/EC for electron ionization single quadrupole quantitative analysis to perform quantitative analyses. These experiments were performed on multiple types of complex samples that included a mixture of 50 standards, as well as cell and plasma extracts. The dynamic range for these quantitative analyses was comparable to triple quadrupole multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) analyses at up to 5 orders of magnitude with the cell and plasma extracts showing similar matrix effects across both platforms. Amino acid and fatty acid measurements performed from certified NIST 1950 plasma with isotopically labeled standards demonstrated accuracy in the range of 91-110% for the amino acids, 76-129% for the fatty acids, and good precision (coefficient of variation <10%). To enhance specificity, a newly developed correlated ion monitoring algorithm was designed to facilitate these analyses. This algorithm autonomously processes, aligns, filters, and compiles multiple ions within one chromatogram enabling both precursor and in-source fragment ions to be correlated within a single chromatogram, also enabling the detection of coeluting species based on precursor and fragment ion ratios. Single quadrupole instrumentation can provide MRM level quantitative performance by monitoring/correlating precursor and fragment ions facilitating high sensitivity analysis on existing single quadrupole instrumentation that are generally inexpensive, easy to operate, and technically less complex. Show less
Rinschen, M.M.; Ivanisevic, J.; Giera, M.; Siuzdak, G. 2019
