Home Biochemistry A Plasma Sample Preparation for Mass Spectrometry using an Automated Workstation
Biochemistry JoVE (Open Access) Citable · DOI

A Plasma Sample Preparation for Mass Spectrometry using an Automated Workstation

DOI: 10.3791/59842-v
What you'll learn
  • Automate plasma protein digestion workflow for mass spectrometry analysis
  • Execute protein denaturation, reduction, alkylation, and trypsin digestion steps
  • Prepare 96-well plate samples with high precision in ~5 hours
  • Analyze digested peptides using LC-MSMS for quantitative proteomics
Protocol

Here, we present an automated plasma protein digestion method for mass spectrometry-based quantitative proteomic analysis. In this protocol, the liquid transferring and incubation steps for protein denaturation, reduction, alkylation, and trypsin digestion reactions are streamlined and automated. It takes approximately five hours to prepare a 96-well plate with desired precision.

Difficulty
intermediate
Total time
~5 hours per 96-well plate
Biosafety
BSL-1

Steps

1
Review automated plasma protein digestion principles

Understand the rationale for automating liquid transfer and incubation steps in plasma proteomic sample preparation. Learn how automation improves precision and throughput for mass spectrometry-based quantification.

▶ 00:04
2
Execute automated protein preparation workflow

Operate the automated workstation to perform sequential liquid transfers and incubations for protein denaturation, reduction, alkylation, and enzymatic trypsin digestion on plasma samples in a 96-well plate format.

▶ 01:11
3
Analyze digested peptides by LC-MSMS

Load prepared samples onto liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry instrumentation for peptide separation and quantitative mass spectrometric analysis of the proteome.

▶ 03:28
4
Interpret representative mass spectrometric results

Review sample mass spectra, peptide identifications, and protein quantification data obtained from the automated workflow to validate sample preparation quality and analytical performance.

▶ 04:38
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