Mass spectrometric analysis of DNA mixtures: Instrumental effects responsible for decreased sensitivity with increasing mass
Mass spectrometric analysis of DNA mixtures: Instrumental effects responsible for decreased sensitivity with increasing mass
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DOI:
10.1021/ac030127h
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发表时间:
2003-11-01
影响因子:
7.4
通讯作者:
Smith, LM
中科院分区:
文献类型:
--
作者:
Chen, XY;Westphall, MS;Smith, LM
Matrix-assisted laser absorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry has demonstrated great potential to replace gel electrophoresis for DNA sequence analysis. A current limitation in this method is, however, the decreased sensitivity with increasing mass of DNA molecules. In the present study, instrumental effects on the mass analysis of DNA molecules were investigated quantitatively using an equimolar DNA mixture. It is shown that detection efficiency, detector saturation, and ion beam divergence account for the entirety of the observed falloff in signal intensity with increasing mass. Although the present study focused upon the analysis of DNA mixtures, the instrumental effects observed apply equally to other macromolecular mixtures (e.g., proteins, polymers).