A rapid, sensitive and solvent-less method for determination of malonaldehyde in meat by stir bar sorptive extraction coupled thermal desorption and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry with in situ derivatization.

RATIONALE: The traditional methods for analysis of malonaldehyde (MDA), such as the thiobarbituric acid (TBA) assay, require strong acidity at high temperature for derivatization and lack specificity in analysis. Stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE) coupled with thermal desorption-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (TD-GC/MS) with in situ derivatization using pentafluorophenylhydrazine (PFPH) under mild conditions is an emerging technique for MDA analysis. METHODS: MDA in meat was derivatized with PFPH at pH ~4 for 1 h at room temperature, forming a relative stable derivative of MDA-PFPH. The derivative of MDA-PFPH was simultaneously extracted using SBSE. Then, MDA-PFPH was thermally released and quantitatively analyzed by GC/MS in selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode. RESULTS: The method of SBSE-TD-GC/MS for MDA analysis with in situ derivatization was optimized and validated with good linearity, specificity and limit of detection/quantification (LOD/LOQ). The method was successfully applied for analysis of MDA in raw and cooked meat (pork). CONCLUSIONS: The SBSE-TD-GC/MS method was suitable to monitor and analyze MDA in meat samples at trace levels. The simple, sensitive and solvent-less method with moderated in situ derivatization can be applied for analysis of MDA in a wide variety of foods and biological samples.

Characteristics of glycation and glycation sites of lysozyme by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight/time-of-flight mass spectrometry and Liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry.

Protein glycation with reducing sugars through the Maillard reaction is regarded as one of the most important reactions in food chem- istry. Amadori rearrangement products [ARPs] are produced at the initial stage of the Maillard reaction and then advanced glycation products may be formed. We report here that using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry with time-of-flight detection [MALDI-TOF-MS] and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MSJ to monitor the glycation process in lysozyme and the D-glucose model system. MALDI-TOF-MS displayed a heterogeneous distribution of glycation via a total mass shift in spectra. However electrospray ionization mass spectrometry [ESI-MS] data showed that a total of four molecules of glucose reacted with Lysozyme at an increase in molecular weight by a 162 Da unit. Further, we identified the glycation sites of lysozyme by using MALDI-TOF/TOF-MS and Liquid chromatography [LC]-ESI-MS/MS. Besides the two glycation sites of Lys1 and Lys97 identified by MALDI-TOF/TOF-MS, the other two glycation sites of Lys13 and Lys116 were characterized unambiguously by LC-ESI-MS/MS. Both MALDI-TOF/TOF-MS and LC-ESI-MS/ MS provided confidence in the study of the glycation by restricting the number of possible residues through (un]modified ions. The study is useful to monitor and characterize glycation in protein systems based on both MALDI-TOF-MS and ESI-MS. Comparatively, LC-ESI-MS/MS provides more fragments with better recovery for the identification of glycation than MALDI-TOF/TOF-MS.

Control of the RNA polymerase II phosphorylation state in promoter regions by CTD interaction domain-containing proteins RPRD1A and RPRD1B.

RNA polymerase II (RNAP II) C-terminal domain (CTD) phosphorylation is important for various transcription-related processes. Here, we identify by affinity purification and mass spectrometry three previously uncharacterized human CTD-interaction domain (CID)-containing proteins, RPRD1A, RPRD1B and RPRD2, which co-purify with RNAP II and three other RNAP II-associated proteins, RPAP2, GRINL1A and RECQL5, but not with the Mediator complex. RPRD1A and RPRD1B can accompany RNAP II from promoter regions to 3'-untranslated regions during transcription in vivo, predominantly interact with phosphorylated RNAP II, and can reduce CTD S5- and S7-phosphorylated RNAP II at target gene promoters. Thus, the RPRD proteins are likely to have multiple important roles in transcription.