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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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Life Sciences

J. A. Aquilina

2012

Mass

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Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Subunit Exchange Of Polydisperse Proteins: Mass Spectrometry Reveals Consequences Of Αa-Crystallin Truncation, J. Andrew Aquilina, Justin Benesch, Lin Lin Ding, Orna Yaron, Joseph Horwitz, Carol Robinson Oct 2012

Subunit Exchange Of Polydisperse Proteins: Mass Spectrometry Reveals Consequences Of Αa-Crystallin Truncation, J. Andrew Aquilina, Justin Benesch, Lin Lin Ding, Orna Yaron, Joseph Horwitz, Carol Robinson

J. A. Aquilina

The small heat shock protein, α-crystallin, plays a key role in maintaining lens transparency by chaperoning structurally compromised proteins. This is of particular importance in the human lens, where proteins are exposed to post-translational modifications over the life-time of an individual. Here, we examine the structural and functional consequences of one particular modification of αA-crystallin involving the truncation of 5 C-terminal residues (αA1–168). Using novel mass spectrometry approaches and established biophysical techniques, we show that αA1–168 forms oligomeric assemblies with a lower average molecular mass than wild-type αA-crystallin (αAWT). Also apparent from the mass spectra of both αAWT and αA1–168 …


Tandem Mass Spectrometry Reveals The Quaternary Organization Of Macromolecular Assemblies, J L Benesch, Andrew Aquilina, Brandon T. Ruotolo, Frank Sobott, C V Robinson Oct 2012

Tandem Mass Spectrometry Reveals The Quaternary Organization Of Macromolecular Assemblies, J L Benesch, Andrew Aquilina, Brandon T. Ruotolo, Frank Sobott, C V Robinson

J. A. Aquilina

The application of mass spectrometry (MS) to the study of progressively larger and more complex macromolecular assemblies is proving increasingly useful for structural biologists. The scope of this approach has recently been widened through the application of a tandem MS procedure. This two-step technique involves the selection of specific assemblies in the gas phase, and inducing their dissociation through collisions with argon atoms. Here we investigate the mechanism of this process and show that dissociation of subunits from a macromolecular assembly follows a sequential pathway, with the partitioning of charge between the dissociation products governed primarily by their relative surface …