Quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry of the native hemocyanin of the deep-sea crab Bythograea thermydron.
Since electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) has demonstrated capabilities for observing intact, weak interactions, there has been increasing interest in studying by this method noncovalently bound complexes. In this communication, we report for the first time the structure obtained by a commercial ESI quadrupole time-of-flight spectrometer on a native hemocyanin of deep-sea crab Bythograea thermydron with a molecular mass of 1.3 MDa. ESI-MS analysis of the native hemocyanin revealed the formation of a 18-mer noncovalent assembly with a measured molecular mass of 1354940 +/- 480 Da. ESI-MS data also revealed that this huge structure is an equilibrium with several assemblages, dodecamer (measured molecular weight = 902570 +/- 110 Da), hexamer (measured molecular weight = 450310 +/- 260 Da), and monomeric structures (measured molecular weight = 74999 +/- 85 Da).
Zal
Franck
F
Equipe Ecophysiologie, UMR 7127 CNRS/UPMC, Station Biologique, BP 74, 29682 Roscoff Cedex, France. zal@sb-roscoff.fr
Chausson
Fabienne
F
Leize
Emmanuelle
E
Van Dorsselaer
Alain
A
Lallier
François H
FH
Green
Brian N
BN
D000818:Animals; D003386:Brachyura / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D002021:Buffers; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid; D006433:Hemocyanins / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D008970:Molecular Weight; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization / Q000379:methods
D002021:Buffers; D006433:Hemocyanins