MAXIMUM LIKELIHOOD HIGH PERFORMANCE LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY MS/MS PROTEIN SEQUENCING

MANY PROBLEMS IN DISEASE REMEDIATION, CELL BIOLOGY, EVOLUTION, AND GENETICS REQUIRE COMPLETE KNOWLEDGE OF THE SEQUENCE OF AMINO ACIDS WHICH CONSTITUTE A PARTICULAR PROTEIN. EXISTING METHODS OF SEQUENCING SUCH AS EDMAN DEGRADATIONS REQUIRE SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF PROTEIN MATERIAL AND LONG PERIODS OF TIME. USING CAPILLARY HIGH PERFORMANCE LIQUID CHORMATOGRAPHY (HPLC) AND TANDEM MASS SPECTROMETRY (MS/MS), RESEARCHERS HAVE DEMONSTRATED THE ABILITY TO SEQUENCE FEMTOMOLE QUANTITIES OF A SINGLE PROTEIN. ONE LIMITATION OF THIS TECHNIQUE IS THE PROBLEM OFRECONSTRUCTING THE PROTEIN SEQUENCE FROM THE MASS SPECTRUM. WE PROPOSE TO DEVELOP A MAXIMUM LIKELIHOOD RECONSTRUCTION ALGORITHM TO SUPPORT HPLC MS/MS PROTEIN SEQUENCING.