ABSTRACT
Surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization (SELDI) protein array technology represents a collection of analytical tools and protocols that address the challenges of protein separation, protein purification, and protein detection by mass spectrometry. Commercially, SELDI has been embodied within Ciphergen Biosystems Inc. ProteinChip® array products (Fremont, California). SELDI array surfaces function as solid phase extraction media that support on-probe isolation and cleanup of analytes prior to mass spectrometric investigation. Often, a complex mixture of proteins and other biological compounds can be divided into a series of manageable populations by employing specific or quasispecific interaction motifs that exist between the analyte and the array’s surface. Analytes with physical and chemical properties complementary to array surface functional groups are adsorbed, while others are washed away during the sample preparation process. Further, contaminants such as salts, detergents, elutropic agents, lipids, and chemical denaturants that squelch the creation of ions during mass spectrometric proteomic studies are, for the most part, also washed away, producing a “purified” protein pool for facile mass spectrometry (MS) analysis.
