Julia Gambetta Vianna, Barbara Benedetti, Marina Di Carro, Emanuele Magi
{"title":"Emerging Contaminants in Raw and Cooked Marine Mussels: The QuEChERS Approach Combined With High-Performance Liquid Chromatography Coupled With Tandem Mass Spectrometry","authors":"Julia Gambetta Vianna, Barbara Benedetti, Marina Di Carro, Emanuele Magi","doi":"10.1002/jms.70047","DOIUrl":"10.1002/jms.70047","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Mussel aquaculture has experienced substantial growth in recent decades, with global production exceeding 2.17 megatons (live weight), more than doubling since the early 21st century. Representing nearly 94% of the total mussel production, aquaculture plays a crucial economic and ecological role. Mussels accumulate xenobiotics through their filter-feeding behaviour, providing valuable insights into potential human exposure to the contaminants. However, the high lipid and protein content in their tissue can introduce analytical challenges, requiring rigorous clean-up procedures to mitigate matrix effects. Herein, we applied a QuEChERS-based extraction method coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC–MS/MS) to investigate the occurrence of emerging contaminants (ECs) in raw and boiled <i>Mytilus galloprovincialis</i> samples. Samples were collected from three aquaculture farms supplying mussels to fish markets in Liguria (Italy), aiming to provide a representative overview of contamination across different geographical sources. A total of 36 samples were analysed, detecting ECs in 26 samples. Caffeine was the most frequently detected contaminant, consistent with its widespread consumption. Additionally, UV filters were also commonly found in the samples, likely due to the sampling period at the end of summer, when sunscreen use is highest. This is the first study to investigate the impact of cooking on the concentrations of different classes of ECs in mussels, reflecting real consumption conditions. Box and whisker plots revealed consistently higher contaminant concentrations in boiled samples, suggesting that thermal processing may influence contaminant release. This study aims to offer insights into contaminants distribution and preliminary information for human exposure assessment of potential risks to human health.</p>","PeriodicalId":16178,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mass Spectrometry","volume":"61 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12989316/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147463709","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"On the Fate of Protonated Aldehydes in the Gas Phase","authors":"Peace Emele, Paul M. Mayer","doi":"10.1002/jms.70043","DOIUrl":"10.1002/jms.70043","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Protonated aldehydes can be formed in the gas phase by proton-transfer reactions with atmospheric water. This work explored the unimolecular chemistry of protonated aldehydes in the gas phase using tandem mass spectrometry and theory, focusing on protonated propanal (<b>1</b>), butanal (<b>2</b>), isobutanal (<b>3</b>), crotonaldehyde (<b>4</b>), and methacrolein (<b>5</b>). An assessment of different density functional theory methods for calculating the minimum energy reaction pathway for water loss from <b>1</b> led to the use of the M06/6-311+G(d,p) level of theory. Results showed that the predominant reaction for <b>1</b>-<b>4</b> was the loss of H<sub>2</sub>O to form a (substituted) allyl cation, while <b>5</b> showed CO loss as the major pathway. The primary mechanism for H<sub>2</sub>O loss involved a combination of 1,2- and 1,4-H shift reactions forming water and a (methyl)allene ion. Minor neutral losses of CH<sub>3</sub><sup>•</sup>, CH<sub>4</sub>, and CO were observed from <b>1</b>, CH<sub>3</sub><sup>•</sup>, C<sub>2</sub>H<sub>4</sub>, and CH<sub>2</sub>O from <b>3</b>, CO and CH<sub>2</sub>O from <b>4</b>, and H<sub>2</sub>O and CH<sub>2</sub>O from <b>5</b>.</p>","PeriodicalId":16178,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mass Spectrometry","volume":"61 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12971626/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147390189","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Editorial: Artificial Intelligence in Ion Mobility Spectrometry-Mass Spectrometry for Omics Research","authors":"Aivett Bilbao, Xueyun Zheng","doi":"10.1002/jms.70039","DOIUrl":"10.1002/jms.70039","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":16178,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mass Spectrometry","volume":"61 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147306554","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mallory C. Wilson, Zhan Gao, Justin R. Lopez, Yanlong Zhu, Szczepan S. Olszewski, Adam R. Konopka, Gary M. Diffee, Ying Ge
{"title":"Top–Down Proteomics of Skinned Human Muscle Fibers Reveals Proteoform-Resolved Fiber-to-Fiber Variability","authors":"Mallory C. Wilson, Zhan Gao, Justin R. Lopez, Yanlong Zhu, Szczepan S. Olszewski, Adam R. Konopka, Gary M. Diffee, Ying Ge","doi":"10.1002/jms.70040","DOIUrl":"10.1002/jms.70040","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Human skeletal muscle is composed of highly heterogeneous single muscle fibers (multinucleated single cells) that are commonly classified as fast or slow fiber types, yet proteoform-resolved characterization of individual human muscle fibers remains lacking. Herein, we establish a high sensitivity top–down proteomics method for the analysis of single human muscle fibers (hSMFs). Specifically, we have optimized the surfactant-free extraction protocol for analysis of chemically permeabilized (“skinned”) hSMFs, a common preparation used to isolate the sarcomere prior to contractile measurements. This approach enables robust and reproducible proteoform-level coverage of key sarcomeric proteins from individual fibers using top–down LC–MS/MS. With this method, we identified extensive inter- and intra-donor fiber-to-fiber variability in isoform expression and proteoform abundance in hSMFs extracted from the heterogeneous vastus lateralis muscles. Together, these results demonstrate the capability of single-fiber top–down proteomics to resolve proteoform-level heterogeneity in human skeletal muscle and establish a methodological foundation for future studies towards elucidating skeletal muscle biology and understanding muscle-related diseases. Source data for this manuscript is available via the MassIVE repository at massive.ucsd.edu with identifier: MSV000100493.</p>","PeriodicalId":16178,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mass Spectrometry","volume":"61 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12926692/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147271180","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Micah D. Lehe, Raghad Almofeez, Erin D. Jeffery, Gloria M. Sheynkman
{"title":"Advances in Mass Spectrometry Instrumentation and Methodology for Analysis of Alternative Protein Isoforms","authors":"Micah D. Lehe, Raghad Almofeez, Erin D. Jeffery, Gloria M. Sheynkman","doi":"10.1002/jms.70024","DOIUrl":"10.1002/jms.70024","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Proteoforms represent the many final protein products that can be generated by a protein-coding gene. A key source of proteomic variation is alternative splicing (AS), with at least 90% of human genes undergoing AS to cause protein sequence alterations that impact protein structure and function. Therefore, detection and characterization of the protein isoforms generated by splicing is critical to a complete understanding of the effects of splicing on human phenotype and disease. Advancements in the power and throughput of mass spectrometry (MS) instrumentation over the past decade, coupled with growing interest in splicing among the proteomics community, are driving a new wave of MS utilization for protein isoform analysis. In this review, we outline recent innovations in MS instruments and the new acquisition strategies they support, sample preparation protocols, and integrative bioinformatics pipelines that have enabled deeper sampling of the alternative proteome. We highlight research from the field utilizing bottom-up and top-down MS as well as discovery and targeted acquisition methods, outlining the isoform coverage and advantages offered by each approach. Based on the evolution of the field, splicing continues to garner greater attention within the context of proteoform diversity.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":16178,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mass Spectrometry","volume":"61 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146202067","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Investigation of the Protective Effect of Stemona Alkaloids on Acute Lung Injury via LC–MS/MS-Based Sphingolipid Metabolomic Profiling","authors":"Hang Ma, Yao Qin, Chang Su, Chen Zhang","doi":"10.1002/jms.70041","DOIUrl":"10.1002/jms.70041","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The dried roots of <i>S. tuberosa</i> (known as “Baibu” in traditional Chinese medicine) have long been used for the treatment of pulmonary infections. Alkaloids are recognized as the principal bioactive constituents underlying their therapeutic effects. In this study, the alkaloids of <i>S. tuberosa</i> were annotated based on the UHPLC–MS/MS and an acute lung injury (ALI) model was established in mice by intratracheal instillation of LPS to evaluate the protective efficacy of <i>Stemona</i> alkaloid extracts and to explore their regulatory role in sphingolipid metabolism. Histopathological evaluation and ELISA assays demonstrated that the extract markedly alleviated pulmonary edema, reduced inflammatory cell infiltration, and decreased TNF-α, IL-6, IL-1β, MPO, and ROS levels. UHPLC–MS/MS-based sphingolipidomics analysis identified significant alterations in ceramide (Cer), sphingomyelin (SM), and lactosylceramide (LacCer) in the model group, all of which were reversed after alkaloid treatment. These findings suggest that <i>Stemona</i> alkaloids exert protective effects against LPS-induced ALI and restore sphingolipid homeostasis, thereby providing mechanistic insight into their traditional clinical efficacy.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":16178,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mass Spectrometry","volume":"61 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146207257","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ravi Tharakan, Yanyan Qu, Michele Ceribelli, Patrick J. Morris, Yuhong Fang, Craig J. Thomas, Christopher A. LeClair, Dingyin Tao
{"title":"Data-Independent Acquisition Enhancement of a Competitive Activity-Based Protein Profiling Platform for Kinase Inhibitor Screening","authors":"Ravi Tharakan, Yanyan Qu, Michele Ceribelli, Patrick J. Morris, Yuhong Fang, Craig J. Thomas, Christopher A. LeClair, Dingyin Tao","doi":"10.1002/jms.70038","DOIUrl":"10.1002/jms.70038","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Kinase inhibitors represent a vital class of therapeutic agents widely used in cancer research, immunology, and other disease areas. Mass spectrometry (MS) employing specially designed small-molecule kinase-binding probes has become an essential strategy for identifying novel kinase drug targets. While traditional MS approaches often rely on targeted proteomics (e.g., multiple reaction monitoring [MRM]) or data-dependent acquisition (DDA), data-independent acquisition (DIA) offers broader and more reproducible quantification, especially for low-abundance peptides. In this study, we systematically developed an activity-based protein profiling (ABPP) platform leveraging DIA, through integrated in-house informatics tools for data filtering and motif analysis, to provide an effective kinase profiling workflow. Compared to DDA, the DIA approach yielded more than a 100% increase in identified biotinylated peptides and over 40% improvement in kinase peptide coverage, while reducing the analysis time by half (90 min vs. 180 min per sample). Additionally, there was a modest improvement to the coefficient of variation (CV) in kinase peptide quantification (decrease from 11.41% to 10.70%; mean CV). Shorter liquid chromatography (LC) gradient times (60, 45, and 30 min) were evaluated as a means for increasing sample analysis throughput. Notably, no significant loss in kinase peptide coverage was observed due to shorter gradients, highlighting the capability of DIA to significantly enhance the efficiency and scalability of kinase profiling workflows.</p>","PeriodicalId":16178,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mass Spectrometry","volume":"61 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12910189/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146207213","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"HPLC-MS/MS Method for Monitoring of L-Asparaginase Activity by Using Asparagine and Aspartic Acid Plasma Levels","authors":"Cem Kaplan, İbrahim Daniş, Durişehvar Özer Ünal","doi":"10.1002/jms.70036","DOIUrl":"10.1002/jms.70036","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The effectiveness of L-asparaginase and therefore the effectiveness of acute lymphoblastic leukemia treatment will be understood by determining the substrates of the enzyme, L-asparagine and L-glutamine. For this purpose, the high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry method was developed and validated by analyzing the L-asparaginase substrates asparagine and glutamine and its products aspartic acid and glutamic acid from plasma. Acetonitrile and ammonium acetate were used at 0.4 mL/min in gradient mobile phase flow using a HILIC column for chromatographic separations. The linear amino acid range was found to be 500–5000 ng/mL for asparagine, aspartic acid, and glutamic acid, and 5–50 μg/mL for glutamine, respectively. Detection limit and quantitation limit were found to be 100–500 ng/mL for asparagine, aspartic acid, and glutamic acid, and 1–5 μg/mL for glutamine, respectively. The validated method has been successfully applied to plasma samples. The method was found to be selective and reproducible.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":16178,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mass Spectrometry","volume":"61 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146194511","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ryan T. Fellers, Joseph B. Greer, Bryan P. Early, Michael A. R. Hollas, Matthew T. Robey, Neil L. Kelleher, Kenneth R. Durbin
{"title":"PSLite Online: A Portable, Modern Web Application to Analyze Top-Down Mass Spectrometry Fragmentation Data","authors":"Ryan T. Fellers, Joseph B. Greer, Bryan P. Early, Michael A. R. Hollas, Matthew T. Robey, Neil L. Kelleher, Kenneth R. Durbin","doi":"10.1002/jms.70037","DOIUrl":"10.1002/jms.70037","url":null,"abstract":"<p><i>PSLite Online</i> is a modern, web-based application designed to facilitate the analysis of top-down mass spectrometry fragmentation data, particularly for targeted proteoform studies. As a successor to the Windows-only ProSight Lite, PSLite Online retains and expands upon its core functionalities while offering platform independence and enhanced usability through a responsive, browser-based interface. Users can load or manually define proteoforms, apply a wide range of modifications, and visualize fragmentation coverage in real time. Key new features include ProForma integration, correction for common mass deconvolution errors, SVG export, and cloud-based session sharing via persistent URLs. The application leverages modern web technologies and component libraries to deliver a lightweight, installable progressive web app (PWA) experience. Here, we show that PSLite Online can be used for the characterization of antibody subunits with glycan modifications. This solution broadens accessibility for proteomics researchers by eliminating installation barriers and enabling seamless collaboration across devices and platforms. PSLite Online is freely available at https://pslite.proteinaceous.net.</p>","PeriodicalId":16178,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mass Spectrometry","volume":"61 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12902720/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146180610","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kseniya Dryahina, Patrik Španěl, Stanislav Musil, Miroslav Polášek
{"title":"Selected Ion Flow-Tube Mass Spectrometry (SIFT-MS) of Mo(CO)6 and W(CO)6 Vapours With Positive and Negative Reagent Ions","authors":"Kseniya Dryahina, Patrik Španěl, Stanislav Musil, Miroslav Polášek","doi":"10.1002/jms.70033","DOIUrl":"10.1002/jms.70033","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Selected ion flow-tube mass spectrometry (SIFT-MS) was used to characterise the gas-phase ion–molecule reactions of the eight standard reagent ions H<sub>3</sub>O<sup>+</sup>, NO<sup>+</sup>, O<sub>2</sub><sup>+</sup>˙, OH<sup>−</sup>, O<sup>−</sup>˙, O<sub>2</sub><sup>−</sup>˙, NO<sub>2</sub><sup>−</sup> and NO<sub>3</sub><sup>−</sup> with molybdenum and tungsten hexacarbonyls, Mo(CO)<sub>6</sub> and W(CO)<sub>6</sub>. These compounds, chosen as model volatile transition-metal carbonyls, were introduced directly into the SIFT at variable concentrations, and mass spectra were obtained for all reagent ions. Reactions with the positive reagent ions were fast and close to the collisional limit, proceeding mainly by proton transfer (H<sub>3</sub>O<sup>+</sup>) or charge transfer (NO<sup>+</sup> and O<sub>2</sub><sup>+</sup>˙) with little fragmentation. In contrast, negative-ion reactions were slower and chemically more diverse. O<sup>−</sup>˙ and O<sub>2</sub><sup>−</sup>˙ produced sequential oxidation and ligand-exchange products, MoO<sub><i>x</i></sub>(CO)<sub>6−<i>n</i></sub><sup>−</sup>˙ and WO<sub><i>x</i></sub>(CO)<sub>6−<i>n</i></sub><sup>−</sup>˙, while NO<sub>2</sub><sup>−</sup> reacted slowly only with Mo(CO)<sub>6</sub>. Relative rate coefficients normalised to H<sub>3</sub>O<sup>+</sup> proton transfer were determined. The results establish the feasibility of SIFT-MS for direct, real-time detection of transition-metal carbonyl vapours and clarify their underlying ion–molecule chemistry. Positive-ion channels offer the most sensitive analytical response, whereas negative-ion reactions reveal complementary oxidative pathways. This study thus extends SIFT-MS to a new class of metal–ligand compounds, which are relevant to environmental and occupational monitoring.</p>","PeriodicalId":16178,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mass Spectrometry","volume":"61 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://analyticalsciencejournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/jms.70033","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146157181","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}