Knowledge of protein structure is crucial to our understanding of biological function and is routinely used in drug discovery. High-resolution techniques to determine the three-dimensional atomic coordinates of proteins are available. However, such methods are frequently limited by experimental challenges such as sample quantity, target size, and efficiency. Structural mass spectrometry (MS) is a technique in which structural features of proteins are elucidated quickly and relatively easily. Computational techniques that convert sparse MS data into protein models that demonstrate agreement with the data are needed. This review features cutting-edge computational methods that predict protein structure from MS data such as chemical cross-linking, hydrogen-deuterium exchange, hydroxyl radical protein footprinting, limited proteolysis, ion mobility, and surface-induced dissociation. Additionally, we address future directions for protein structure prediction with sparse MS data.
Keywords: computational methods; mass spectrometry; protein structure prediction; sparse experimental data.