aliquot (400 μg) of MPF suspended in 50 μL of 0.2
M ammonium bicarbonate was digested with 10 μg modified trypsin
(Roche Applied Science) at 37 °C for 4 h, followed by overnight
digestion with an additional 10 μg of trypsin. Samples were
dried under vacuum, reconstituted in H2O, and dried three
times before suspension in 120 μL of 3% acetonitrile (ACN) containing
0.1% acetic acid. Insoluble material was removed from the sample by
centrifugation at 16 000g for 10 min.
Peptides were separated by strong cation exchange (SCX) chromatography
using an Alliance 2695 HPLC (Waters, Milford, MA) coupled to a PolyLC
polysulfethyl A column (4.6 mm × 100 mm) (The Nest Group, Southboro,
MA) with an increasing linear gradient of KCl (0 to 500 mM) in 10
mM KH2PO4, 25% ACN and a flow rate of 1 mL/min.
A total of 12 fractions were collected and dried under vacuum. The
fractions were reconstituted in 100 μL of 0.1% trifluoroacetic
acid and desalted using OMIX C18 tips according to the manufacturer’s
instructions (Varian, Palo Alto, CA). Desalted samples were dried
under vacuum and suspended in 11 μL of 3% ACN, 0.1% formic acid.
Samples were sonicated for 5 min, followed by centrifugation for 10
min at 16 000g and transferred to an autosampler
vial for LC–MS/MS analyses as described below.