title: Mass spectrometric approaches to molecular characterization of protein-nucleic acid interactions.
abstract: The recent development of 'soft' ionization-desorption methods has lead to a breakthrough for the mass spectrometric analysis of biomacromolecules such as proteins and nucleic acids. In particular, the feasibility of electrospray-ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) for the direct characterization of non-covalent supramolecular complexes is opening new analytical perspectives. Examples hitherto analyzed by ESI-MS include enzyme-substrate and -inhibitor complexes, homo- and heterodimers/trimers of leucine zipper polypeptides, and several other DNA- and RNA-binding proteins. Furthermore, the characterization of double-stranded and higher-order oligo- and polynucleotide complexes by negative-ion ESI has been demonstrated. Ions specific of non-covalent protein and oligonucleotide complexes can be selectively dissociated by changing the solution conditions and by increasing the desolvation potential. These results form the basis for the molecular characterization of protein-nucleotide interactions, thus complementing protein-chemical approaches, and other methods of structure determination.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Chemistry, University of Konstanz, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Przybylski
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kast
authors.forename: M O
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Glocker
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dürr
authors.forename: H R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Bosshard
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nock
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sprinzl
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D016350:Leucine Zippers; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009841:Oligonucleotides / Q000378:metabolism*; D010444:Peptide Elongation Factor Tu / Q000378:metabolism*; D010445:Peptide Elongation Factors / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D009841:Oligonucleotides; D010445:Peptide Elongation Factors; C023512:elongation factor Ts; D010444:Peptide Elongation Factor Tu