Mass Spectrometry : An Essential Tool for Genome and Proteome Analysis Introduction
Mass spectrometry (MS) involves separation of charged atoms or molecules according to their mass-to-charge (m/z) ratio and therefore helps in the determination of relative molecular masses of organic compounds and biomolecules with very high precision and sensitivity. This has led to a very wide range of applications of MS in investigations involving study of biomolecules. Although mass spectrometry had its beginning in the early years of the 20th century, it was only in 1980s and 1990s, that mass spectrometry was extensively used for research in various fields of biological sciences. Application of MS for study of biomolecules actually took long time because it requires charged gaseous molecules for analysis, and the polymeric biomolecules, being large and polar, cannot be easily transferred into the gaseous phase and ionized. However, the availability of ionization techniques like matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) and electrospray (ES) in 1980s and the major advances made in sample preparation for MS led to powerful instrumentation.