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Fluorous Proteomics & Metabolomics

In recent years, the application of fluorous techniques has been extended from the purification of synthetic mixtures to the isolation of targeted molecular substrates from biological mixtures.  By combining specific reactive functionalities with a perfluoroalkyl chain, fluorous separations are then employed to enrich complex mixtures for the analytes of interest.[1]  Fluorous techniques are well-suited for modern analytical techniques due to their bio-orthogonality, simplicity of use, excellent MS characteristics, and compatibility with peptide and protein identification software.

The seminal publication in this field was published by Peters et al from the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation in 2005 and describes the use of fluorous bioreagents in proteomics.[2]  Within that publication they described fluorous reagents for Cys tagging, fluorous thiols for phosphoproteome analysis, and fluorous NHS esters for amine tagging, all of which are available from FTI.  Since that publication, FTI has extended the line of bioreagents to include products for carbonyl tagging and click chemistry.  In addition, FTI can now provide the FluoroFlash® silica gel used for the enrichment in convenient pipette form, in pre-packed micro LC format, or in loose bulk format for those who prefer to pack their separation media.  

In the field of metabolomics, Prof. Gary Siuzdak at Scripps has published the direct on-target enrichment and analysis of peptide subsets and amino acids from serum on a fluorous modified DIOS plate.[3]  This publication highlights the exceptional selectivity and ease of separation coupled with MS analysis.

Fluorous Technologies, Inc. has continuing research efforts to develop new reagents and tools for proteomics and metabolomics including those for quantitative analysis.

References:

1. Dandapani, S., Recent applications of fluorous separation methods in organic and bioorganic chemistry. QSAR & Combinatorial Science 2006, 25, (8-9), 681-688.
2. Brittain, S. M.; Ficarro, S. B.; Brock, A.; Peters, E. C., Enrichment and analysis of peptide subsets using fluorous affinity tags and mass spectrometry. Nature Biotechnology 2005, 23, (4), 463-468.
3. Go, E. P.; Uritboonthai, W.; Apon, J. V.; Trauger, S. A.; Nordstrom, A.; O'Maille, G.; Brittain, S. M.; Peters, E. C.; Siuzdak, G., Selective Metabolite and Peptide Capture/Mass Detection Using Fluorous Affinity Tags. J. Proteome Res. 2007; 6,(4), 1492-1499.