RAPID ANALYSIS OF ENZYMATIC DIGESTS OF A BACTERIAL PROTEASE OF THE SUBTILISIN TYPE AND A BIO-ENGINEERED VARIANT BY HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY FRIT FAST-ATOM-BOMBARDMENT MASS-SPECTROMETRY

Amino acid sequencing of a subtilisin-type bacterial protease and a bi o-engineered variant was carried out by investigating various enzymati c digests using HPLC-frit fast atom bombardment MS methods. The fast a tom bombardment mass spectral data allowed rapid identification of the enzymatically generated peptides and differentiation between both pro teins. The feasibility of determining the positions and nature of muta tions in the amino acid sequence depends mainly on the size of the pep tides containing the modifications.