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Articles tagged: scoring
Get better HCD results by matching internal fragments
Mascot ships with several instrument definitions, which define the fragment ion series used for matching and scoring. All of them enable b ions and most enable y ions, and a few like ETD-TRAP also enable c and z+1. Mascot can also match internal fragments, which are formed by double backbone cleavage, a combination of a/b type and y type. Of [...]
Complementary reporter ion clusters in TMT/TMTpro labeling
We recently received a support request about complementary ions in TMTpro labeling. Complementary ions are formed during fragmentation, where the precursor loses the reporter ion and carbon monoxide, leaving behind the peptide and the balance region of the label. Complementary ion spacing is similar to reporter ions but the mass varies depending on peptide mass. The customer was concerned that [...]
Does your search engine show the evidence?
You’ve submitted a protein sequence database search and start looking at the results. Why did the search engine identify that protein? What is the peptide evidence? Which alternatives did the software consider? Is the software’s decision correct? These are basic yet important questions with any software-driven approach – which is the bulk of today’s MS/MS data analysis. A lot of [...]
Single-cell peptide fragmentation spectra
More single-cell proteomics studies are published each year as instruments become more sensitive and sample preparation is optimised. A recent publication in the Journal of Proteome Research, Features of Peptide Fragmentation Spectra in Single-Cell Proteomics, highlights potential challenges to protein and peptide identification by database searching. Boekweg et al. computationally examined the fragmentation spectra of peptides from bulk samples, 2ng [...]
Common myths about protein scores
Mascot Server is used in many different application areas by both mass spectrometry experts and non-experts. Over the years, we’ve spotted a few recurring misconceptions about how protein scores are interpreted and used. All the examples come from recent peer-reviewed papers. Protein scores in PMF searches The very first thing to check is, what type of experiment is being reported. [...]
Back to basics 5: Peptide-spectrum match statistics
Mascot can identify peptides in uninterpreted MS/MS data. Observed spectra are submitted to Mascot as search queries. A query specifies the precursor ion m/z and charge state as well as the MS/MS peak list. Mascot digests protein sequences from the chosen database and selects peptide sequences whose mass is within the specified tolerance of the query’s precursor mass. The software [...]
Mascot workflows in Proteome Discoverer
For many users of Thermo instruments, Proteome Discoverer (PD) is their primary user interface for database searching, and Mascot is represented by a node in the workflow. This article collects together a few tips and observations concerning Proteome Discoverer 2.3 and Mascot Server 2.6. Proteome Discoverer Configuration Under Administration; Mascot Server, the setting Max. MGF File Size [MB] has a [...]
Some peaks are more equal than others
When you look at the details of a peptide match in the Mascot Peptide View report, only a small number of the peaks may be labelled in the spectrum graphic and highlighted in the table of fragment masses. We often got challenged about this: "Why haven’t you labelled these other peaks that clearly match?". So, in Mascot 2.3, we added [...]
High mass accuracy: fragments
In an earlier post, we looked at the implications for database search of very accurate precursor m/z. In this post, we discuss what to expect from high accuracy measurement of fragment m/z. It can come as a surprise that the accuracy of the fragment m/z values in an MS/MS spectrum has only a modest effect on the score for a [...]
High mass accuracy: precursors
High performance instruments can deliver low ppm accuracy for both precursors and fragments. How does this impact database search? In this post, the first of two, we’ll look at the implications of very accurate precursor m/z. High mass accuracy and high resolution have transformed mass spectrometry over the last few years. Apart from increasing file sizes, and maybe the time [...]