Selective binding, recovery and identification by MALDI MS of a specific interaction partner

The application of Biacore’s SPR technology within the field of proteomics to fish out proteins of interest with subsequent mass spectrometric identification has been published by several groups over the past few years. Two key approaches have been presented including direct MS analysis of bound protein on the sensor chip surface and recovery of chip-bound material from the sensor chip surface using the microrecovery routine with subsequent identification by mass spectrometry. Here we report on a ligand fishing experiment from a complex biological mixture followed by the identification of its mass using MALDI MS. Contrary to some published examples, this method does not involve any modifications of the existing Biacore 3000 hardware or software. Abstract