Mass Spectrometry Data Collection in Parallel at Multiple Core Facilities Operating TripleTOF 5600 and Orbitrap Elite/Velos Pro/Q Exactive Mass Spectrometers.

Proteomic research can benefit from simultaneous access to multiple cutting-edge mass spectrometers. 18 core facilities responded to our investigators seeking service through the ABRF Discussion Forum. Five of the facilities selected completed four plasma proteomics experiments as routine fee-for-service. Each biological experiment entailed an iTRAQ 4-plex proteome comparison of immunodepleted plasma provided as 30 labeled-peptide fractions. Identical samples were analyzed by two AB SCIEX TripleTOF 5600 and three Thermo Orbitrap (Elite/Velos Pro/Q Exactive) instruments. 480 LC-MS/MS runs delivered >250 GB of data over two months. We compare herein routine service analyses of three peptide fractions of different peptide abundance. Data files from each instrument were studied to develop optimal analysis parameters to compare with default parameters in Mascot Distiller 2.4, ProteinPilot 4.5 beta, AB Sciex MS Data Converter 1.3 beta, and Proteome Discover 1.3. Peak-picking for TripleTOFs was best by ProteinPilot 4.5 beta while Mascot Distiller and Proteome Discoverer were comparable for the Orbitraps. We compared protein identification and quantitation in SwissProt 2012_07 database by Mascot Server 2.4.01 versus ProteinPilot. By all search methods, more proteins, up to two fold, were identified using the Q Exactive than others. Q Exactive excelled also at the number of unique significant peptide ion sequences. However, software-dependent impact on subsequent interpretation, due to peptide modifications, can be critical. These findings may have special implications for iTRAQ plasma proteomics. For the low abundance peptide ions, the slope of the dynamic range drop-off in the plasma proteome is uniquely sharp compared with cell lysates. Our study provides data for testable improvements in the operation of these mass spectrometers. More importantly, we have demonstrated a new affordable expedient workflow for investigators to perform proteomic experiments through the ABRF infrastructure. (We acknowledge John Cottrell for optimizing the peak-picking parameters for Mascot Distiller).