Mass Spectrometry: An Outsourcing Guide

Proteomics is the study of the proteins expressed from the genome of a cell or organism. Analytical mass spectrometry has recently become a powerful tool to study a cell or organism's proteome and is the focus of this chapter. Mass spectrometry can be used for both qualitative and quantitative analysis of proteomes. This chapter will focus on qualitative analysis, addressing questions of what proteins are present in a proteome and what post-translational modifications may be associated with these proteins. The instrumentation required for mass spectrometric analysis is generally not available in a standard research laboratory or as part of an undergraduate laboratory, being associated in general with a core facility. We will not describe here details of specific operation of the instruments. Here we focus on the common types of analysis presently in routine use and on preparation of samples for routine biological mass spectrometric analysis that will allow most laboratories, including undergraduate and graduate teaching laboratories, to prepare and analyze samples in experiments designed to obtain proteomic information. Curr. Protoc. Essential Lab. Tech. 2:12.2.1-12.1.18. © 2009 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.