Background: Reliability and reproducibility are common requirements for high-quality generation of proteome data using mass spectrometry. The aim of this study was to compare four single-step desalting devices to provide a reproducible, high-recovery method for concentrating and purifying tryptic peptides before LC-MS/MS measurements.
Material and methods: Four different methods for peptide purification prior LC-MS/MS analyses (μC18 ZipTip® pipette tips, C18 ZipTip® pipette tips, TopTip C-18 and OASIS® HLB μElution Plate) were tested using whole saliva from healthy volunteers. A number of protein identifications and salivary protein patterns were analyzed comparatively.
Results: Each desalting device facilitated the identification of about 340 proteins. Purification-method dependent variations in protein composition were observed. Nevertheless, the overall inter-approach Pearson correlation coefficients of >0.95 indicate high reproducibility, reliability and recovery of proteins.
Conclusion: The applied devices performed equally well in the removal of low molecular weight contaminants and provide high-quality data for quantitative proteomic analysis. Thus, selection should be primarily based on the amount of peptide extract available and the number of samples to be processed.
Keywords: Peptide desalting devices; Peptide purification; Saliva proteomics; Shotgun LC–MS/MS.
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