| emowse

## Function

Protein identification by mass spectrometry

## Description

Peptide mass information can provide a 'fingerprint' signature sufficiently discriminating to allow for the unique and rapid identification of unknown sample proteins, independent of other analytical methods such as protein sequence analysis. Practical experience has shown that sample proteins can be uniquely identified using as few as 3-4 experimentally determined peptide masses when screened against a fragment database derived from over 50,000 proteins.

Given a one-per-line file of molecular weights cut by enzymes/reagents, emowse will search a protein database for matches with the mass spectrometry data.

One of eight cutting enzymes/reagents can be specified and an optional whole sequence molecular weight.

Determination of molecular weight has always been an important aspect of the characterization of biological molecules. Protein molecular weight data, historically obtained by SDS gel electrophoresis or gel permeation chromatography, has been used establish purity, detect post-translational modification (such as phosphorylation or glycosylation) and aid identification. Until just over a decade ago, mass spectrometric techniques were typically limited to relatively small biomolecules, as proteins and nucleic acids were too large and fragile to withstand the harsh physical processes required to induce ionization. This began to change with the development of 'soft' ionization methods such as fast atom bombardment (FAB)[1], electrospray ionisation (ESI) [2,3] and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionisation (MALDI)[4], which can effect the efficient transition of large macromolecules from solution or solid crystalline state into intact, naked molecular ions in the gas phase. As an added bonus to the protein chemist, sample handling requirements are minimal and the amounts required for MS analysis are in the same range, or less, than existing analytical methods.

As well as providing accurate mass information for intact proteins, such techniques have been routinely used to produce accurate peptide molecular weight 'fingerprint' maps following digestion of known proteins with specific proteases. Such maps have been used to confirm protein sequences (allowing the detection of errors of translation, mutation or insertion), characterise post-translational modifications or processing events and assign disulphide bonds [5,6].

Less well appreciated, however, is the extent to which such peptide mass information can provide a 'fingerprint' signature sufficiently discriminating to allow for the unique and rapid identification of unknown sample proteins, independent of other analytical methods such as protein sequence analysis.

Practical experience has shown that sample proteins can be uniquely identified using as few as 3- 4 experimentally determined peptide masses when screened against a fragment database derived from over 50,000 proteins. Experimental errors of a few Daltons are tolerated by the scoring algorithms, permitting the use of inexpensive time-of-flight mass spectrometers. As with other types of physical data, such as amino acid composition or linear sequence, peptide masses can clearly provide a set of determinants sufficiently unique to identify or match unknown sample proteins. Peptide mass fingerprints can prove as discriminating as linear peptide sequence, but can be obtained in a fraction of the time using less material. In many cases, this allows for a rapid identification of a sample protein before committing to protein sequence analysis. Fragment masses also provide structural information, at the protein level, fully complementary to large-scale DNA sequencing or mapping projects [7,8,9].

For each entry in the specified set of sequences to search, emowse derives both whole sequence molecular weight and calculated peptide molecular weights for complete digests using the range of cleavage reagents and rules detailed in Table 1. Cleavage is disallowed if the target residue is followed by proline (except for CNBr or Asp N). Glu C (S. aureus V8 protease) cleavages are also inhibited if the adjacent residue is glutamic acid. Peptide mass calculations are based entirely on the linear sequence and use the average isotopic masses of amide-bonded amino acid residues (IUPAC 1987 relative atomic masses). To allow for N-terminal hydrogen and C-terminal hydroxyl the final calculated molecular weight of a peptide of N residues is given by the equation:

            N
            __
            \
            /  Residue mass + 18.0153
            --
            n=1

Molecular weights are rounded to the nearest integer value before being used. Cysteine residues are calculated as the free thiol, anticipating that samples are reduced prior to mass analysis. CNBr fragments are calculated as the homoserine lactone form. Information relating to post- translational modification (phosphorylation, glycosylation etc.) is not incorporated into calculation of peptide masses.

### Table 1: Cleavage reagents modelled by emowse.

    Reagent no.     Reagent                 Cleavage rule

            1       Trypsin                 C-term to K/R
            2       Lys-C                   C-term to K
            3       Arg-C                   C-term to R
            4       Asp-N                   N-term to D
            5       V8-bicarb               C-term to E
            6       V8-phosph               C-term to E/D
            7       Chymotrypsin            C-term to F/W/Y/L/M
            8       CNBr                    C-term to M

Current versions of emowse also incorporate calculated peptide Mw's resulting from incomplete or partial cleavages. At present, this is achieved by computing all nearest-neighbour pairs for each enzyme or reagent detailed in table 1.

### Tolerance

The supplied number specifies the error allowed for mass accuracy of experimental mass determination. If no figure is specified, a default tolerance of 2 Daltons will be assumed. If you wish to specify a different tolerance then follow the qualifier '-tolerance' with the required number of Daltons. eg: '-tolerance 1'. In this case, supplied peptide masses will be matched to +/- 1 Daltons. Values of 2-4 are suggested for data obtained by laser- desorption TOF instruments. Accuracies of +/- 2 Daltons or better are generally only possible using an appropriate internal standard (e.g. oxidised insulin B chain) with TOF instruments. For electrospray or FAB data, a value of 1 can be selected in most cases. If you have real confidence in mass determination, specify '0' (zero) to limit matches to the nearest integer value (effectively +/- 0.5 Daltons). Discrimination is significantly improved by the selection of a small error tolerance.

### Whole sequence molecular weight

This option allows you to give the molwt of the whole protein (if known). This allows you to limit the search to proteins of this molwt plus/minus a 'limit' (see below). If unspecified, a whole protein molwt of 0 is assumed which emowse interprets as "search the whole database". This will include all proteins up to the maximum size of just under 700,000 Daltons. You can specify any molwt in Daltons with this command e.g. '-weight 90000'.

### Allowed whole sequence weight variability

This option is used in conjunction with the '-weight' option and is meaningless without it. It specifies a percentage. Only proteins of the given Sequence molecular weight +/- this percentage will be searched. If a Sequence molecular weight is specified but '-pcrange' is unspecified then '-pcrange ' will default to 25%. To specify a percentage of 30% use: '-pcrange 30'. In this case, a molecular weight of 90,000 Daltons was specified and the selection of 30 for the filter restricts the search to those proteins with masses from 63,000 to 117,000 Daltons. A value of 25 is suggested for initial searches, which can be progressively widened for subsequent search attempts if no matches are found. Discrimination is best when the filter percentage is narrow, but some Mw estimates (particularly from SDS gels) should be given considerable allowance for error.

### Partials factor

This specifies the weighting given to partially-cleaved peptide fragments, with a range from 0.1 to 1.0. If not specified, the default value is 0.4. The factor effectively down-weights the score awarded to a partial fragment by the specified amount. For example, a '-partials' of 0.25 will reduce the score of partial fragments to 25% (one quarter) of the score of a complete ('perfect') peptide cleavage fragment of equal mass.

Computing all possible nearest-neighbour partial fragments adds significantly to the number of peptides entered in the database (by a factor of two). The major effect of this is to increase the background score by increasing the number of random Mw matches, which can significantly reduce discrimination. The use of a low '-partials' factor (eg 0.1 - 0.3) is a useful way of limiting this effect - partial peptide matches will add a little to the cumulative frequency score, but without compromising discrimination.

More experienced users can utilise the '-partials' factor to optimize searches where the peptide Mw data contain a significant proportion of partial cleavage fragments (eg > 30%). In such cases, setting the '-partials' factor within the range 0.4 - 0.6 can help to improve discrimination. Conversely, if the digestion is perfect, with no partial fragments present, the lowest '-partials' factor of 0.1 will give maximum discrimination.

### Program requirements

The emowse search program accepts a single text file containing a list of experimentally-determined masses, generally selected from the range 700-4,000 Daltons to reduce the influence of partial cleavage products. The program outputs a ranked hit list comprising the top 30 scores, with information including the protein entry name, text identifiers, final accumulated scores, matching peptide sequences and hit versus miss tallies. User-selectable search parameters include an error tolerance (default +/- 2 Daltons), selection of the enzyme or reagent used and an intact protein Mw (optional, if known).

For each peptide Mw entry in the data file, emowse matches individual fragment molecular weights (FMWs) with database entry molecular weights (DBMWs). A 'hit' is scored when the following criterion is met:

            DBMW-tolerance-1 < FMW < DBMW+tolerance+1

If an intact protein Mw is specified (SMW) then the program prompts for a molecular weight filter percentage (MWFP). emowse then restricts the search to those entries which match the following criteria:

            R = SMW x MWFP / 100
            0 < SMW-R < emowse entry Mol.wt. < SMW+R

Default search parameters are a tolerance of +/- 2 Daltons, intact Mw specified and the MWFP set to 25.

### emowse Scoring scheme

The final scoring scheme is based on the frequency of a fragment molecular weight being found in a protein of a given range of molecular weight. OWL database sequence entries were initially grouped into 10 kDalton intact molecular weight intervals. For each 10 kDalton protein interval, peptide fragment molecular weights were assigned to cells of 100 Dalton intervals. The cells therefore contained the number of times a particular fragment molecular weight occurred in a protein of any given size. This operation was performed for each enzyme. Cell frequency values were calculated by dividing each cell value by the total number of peptides in each 10 kD protein interval. Cell frequency values for each 10 kDalton interval were then normalised to the largest cell value (Fmax), with all the cell values recalculated as:

            Cell value = Old value / Fmax

to yield floating point numbers between 0 and 1. These distribution frequency values, calculated for each cleavage reagent, were then built into the emowse search program. For every database entry scanned, all matching fragments contribute to the final score. In the current implementation, non-matching fragments are ignored (neutral). For each matching peptide Mw a score is assigned by looking up the appropriate normalised distribution frequency value. In the case of multiple 'hits' in any one target protein (i.e. more than one matching peptide Mw), the distribution frequency scores are multiplied. The final product score is inverted and then normalised to an 'average' protein Mw of 50 kDaltons to reduce the influence of random score accumulation in large proteins (>200 kDaltons). The final score is thus calculated as:

    Score = 50/(Pn x H)

Where Pn is the product of n distribution scores and H the 'hit' protein molecular weight in kD.

Important consequences of this type of scoring scheme are that matches with peptides of higher Mw carry more scoring weight, and that the non-random distribution of fragment molecular weights in proteins of different sizes is compensated for.

### Simulation studies

In a simulation of scoring properties, 100 test proteins with masses between 10 kD and 100 kD were randomly selected from the OWL sequence database. The sets of all possible tryptic peptide masses for each protein were randomized and database searches performed with increasing numbers of fragments (default search parameters) until the test protein reached the top of the ranked scoring list. 99% of the test proteins were correctly identified using only five peptides or less (mean=3.6 peptides), with one example requiring six. These figures were surprisingly small considering that some of the proteins in the test sample generated more than 100 possible tryptic fragments. All 100 test examples were identified using 30% or less of the maximum number of available peptides.

This distribution was somewhat dependent on protein size, as smaller proteins generally yield fewer peptide fragments. Thus, all proteins of 30 kD and over were identified using 13% or less of possible fragments (1 in 8), with all proteins of 40 kD and above requiring less than 10% (1 in 10). In this latter group, therefore, more than 90% of the potential information (all possible peptides) was redundant. For the simulation a 'unique' identification required matching not only of protein type (e.g. globin) but correct discrimination of type, species, and isoform or isozyme. Discrimination could be further improved by reducing the error tolerance to only +/- 1 Dalton (mean=2.7 peptides). Such accuracies are easily bettered using more sophisticated ESI/quadrupole or high-field FAB spectrometers, but the default search value (+/- 2 Daltons) compensates for the reduced accuracy obtainable from the smaller time-of-flight (TOF) instruments. Mass accuracies better than +/- 1 Dalton were not essential, and in fact the error tolerance could be relaxed to +/- 5 Daltons in many cases with little degradation in performance. The simulation thus clearly demonstrated the high degree of discrimination afforded by relatively few peptide masses, even with generous allowance for error.

## Usage

Here is a sample session with emowse

    % emowse
    Protein identification by mass spectrometry
    Input sequence(s): tsw:*
    Input file: ../../data/test.mowse
    Whole sequence molwt [0]:
    Output file [100k_rat.emowse]:

Go to the input files for this example
Go to the output files for this example

## Command line arguments

       Mandatory qualifiers:
      [-sequences]         seqall     Sequence database USA
      [-infile]            infile     Name of molecular weight data file
       -weight             integer    Whole sequence molwt
       -outfile            outfile    Output file name

       Optional qualifiers: (none)
       Advanced qualifiers:
       -enzyme             menu       Enzyme or reagent
       -aadata             string     Molecular weight data for amino acids
       -pcrange            integer    Allowed whole sequence weight variability
       -frequencies        string     Frequencies file
       -tolerance          float      (no help text) float value
       -partials           float      Partials factor

       Associated qualifiers:
      "-sequences" related qualifiers
       -sbegin1             integer    First base used
       -send1               integer    Last base used, def=seq length
       -sreverse1           boolean    Reverse (if DNA)
       -sask1               boolean    Ask for begin/end/reverse
       -snucleotide1        boolean    Sequence is nucleotide
       -sprotein1           boolean    Sequence is protein
       -slower1             boolean    Make lower case
       -supper1             boolean    Make upper case
       -sformat1            string     Input sequence format
       -sopenfile1          string     Input filename
       -sdbname1            string     Database name
       -sid1                string     Entryname
       -ufo1                string     UFO features
       -fformat1            string     Features format
       -fopenfile1          string     Features file name
      "-outfile" related qualifiers
       -odirectory          string     Output directory

       General qualifiers:
       -auto                boolean    Turn off prompts
       -stdout              boolean    Write standard output
       -filter              boolean    Read standard input, write standard output
       -options             boolean    Prompt for required and optional values
       -debug               boolean    Write debug output to program.dbg
       -acdlog              boolean    Write ACD processing log to program.acdlog
       -acdpretty           boolean    Rewrite ACD file as program.acdpretty
       -acdtable            boolean    Write HTML table of options
       -verbose             boolean    Report some/full command line options
       -help                boolean    Report command line options. More
                                      information on associated and general
                                      qualifiers can be found with -help -verbose
       -warning             boolean    Report warnings
       -error               boolean    Report errors
       -fatal               boolean    Report fatal errors
       -die                 boolean    Report deaths

Mandatory qualifiers | Allowed values | Default
--- | --- | ---
[-sequences] (Parameter 1) | Sequence database USA | Readable sequence(s) | Required
[-infile] (Parameter 2) | Name of molecular weight data file | Input file | Required
-weight | Whole sequence molwt | Any integer value | 0
-outfile | Output file name | Output file | <sequence>.emowse
Optional qualifiers | Allowed values | Default
(none)
Advanced qualifiers | Allowed values | Default
-enzyme | Enzyme or reagent |
1 | (Trypsin)
2 | (Lys-C)
3 | (Arg-C)
4 | (Asp-N)
5 | (V8-bicarb)
6 | (V8-phosph)
7 | (Chymotrypsin)
8 | (CNBr)
| 1
-aadata | Molecular weight data for amino acids | Any string is accepted | Eamino.dat
-pcrange | Allowed whole sequence weight variability | Integer from 0 to 75 | 25
-frequencies | Frequencies file | Any string is accepted | Efreqs.dat
-tolerance | (no help text) float value | Number from 0.100 to 1.000 | 0.1
-partials | Partials factor | Number from 0.100 to 1.000 | 0.4

## Input file format

### Input files for usage example

'tsw:*' is a sequence entry in the example protein database 'tsw'

### File: ../../data/test.mowse

    6082.8
    5423.0
    3086.3
    2930.3
    2424.7
    2030.2
    1399.6
    1086.2

The input file is a list of molecular weights of the peptide fragments. One weight is allowed per line. The example file above is a Trypsin digest of the protein sw:100K_rat (produced by using the program digest).

Each molecular weight must be on a line of its own. Masses (M not M[H+]) are accepted in any order (ascending,descending or mixed). Peptide masses can be entered as integers or floating-point values, the latter being rounded to the nearest integer value for the search.

It is suggested that peptide masses should be selected from the range 700-4000 Daltons. This range balances the fact that very small peptides give little discrimination and minimizes the frequency of partially-cleaved peptides.

As a general rule, users are advised to identify and remove peptide masses resulting from autodigestion of the cleavage enzyme (e.g tryptic fragments of trypsin), best obtained by MS analysis of control digests containing only the enzyme.

Further information on the partial sequence and/or composition of the peptides can be given after the weight with a 'seq()' or 'comp()' specification. This should be formatted like:

    mw seq(...) comp(...)

where mw is the molecular mass of the fragment, `seq(...)` is sequence information and `comp(...)` is composition information. A line may contain more than one sequence information qualifiers. For example:

###

###

##

###

###

###

###

###

##

##

##

###

##

##

##

##

##

##

##

##

##

    7176 seq(b-t[pqt]ln)
    1744
    1490
    1433   comp(3[ed]1[p]) seq(gmde)

    Sequence information
    The sequence information should be given in standard
    One-character code. It should be preceded by a prefix
    as outlined in the table below, to indicate what type of sequence
    it is.

    Prefixes to use with sequence information for
    emowse
    PrefixMeaningExample
    b-N->C sequence
    seq(b-DEFG)
    y-C->N sequence
    seq(y-GFED)
    *-
    Orientation unknown
    seq(*-DEFG)
    seq(*-GFED)
    n-N terminal sequence
    seq(n-ACDE)
    c-C terminal sequence
    seq(c-FGHI)
    The examples are all correct data for a
    peptide with a sequence ACDEFGHI.
     Note that *-DEFG
    will search for both DEFG and GFED

    Both lower and upper case characters may be used for amino-acids.
    An unknown amino acid may be indicated by an 'X'.
    More than one amino acid may be specified for a position by
    putting them between square brackets.
    A line may contain several sequence information
    qualifiers. An example for a peptide with the actual
    sequence ACDEFGHI might look like:

    12345 seq(n-AC[DE]) seq(c-HI)

    Composition Information
    Composition should consist of a number, followed by the
    corresponding amino acid between square brackets.
    For example
    comp(2[H]0[M]3[DE]*[K]) indicates
    a peptide which contains 2 histidines, no methionines,
    3 acidic residues (glutamic or aspartic acid) and
    at least 1 lysine.

        Output file format

    Output files for usage example
    File: 100k_rat.emowse

    Using data fragments of:
              1086.2
              1399.6
              2030.2
              2424.7
              2930.3
              3086.3
              5423.0
              6082.8

    1   100K_RAT     100 KDA PROTEIN (EC 6.3.2.-).
    2   SYV_FUGRU    VALYL-TRNA SYNTHETASE (EC 6.1.1.9) (VALINE--TRNA LIGASE) (VALR
    3   TCPD_FUGRU   T-COMPLEX PROTEIN 1, DELTA SUBUNIT (TCP-1-DELTA) (CCT-DELTA).
    4   FLAV_ECOLI   FLAVODOXIN 1.
    5   OPS2_DROME   OPSIN RH2 (OCELLAR OPSIN).
    6   FLAV_KLEPN   FLAVODOXIN.
    7   FLAV_SYNY3   FLAVODOXIN.
    8   E2BB_FUGRU   TRANSLATION INITIATION FACTOR EIF-2B BETA SUBUNIT (EIF-2B GDP-
    9   FLAV_HAEIN   FLAVODOXIN.
    10  HIRA_FUGRU   HIRA PROTEIN (TUP1 LIKE ENHANCER OF SPLIT PROTEIN 1).
    11  OPS2_SCHGR   OPSIN 2.
    12  HBA_HUMAN    HEMOGLOBIN ALPHA CHAIN.
    13  LACY_ECOLI   LACTOSE PERMEASE (LACTOSE-PROTON SYMPORT).
    14  FLAV_CLOAB   FLAVODOXIN.
    15  PAX3_HUMAN   PAIRED BOX PROTEIN PAX-3 (HUP2).
    16  PAX4_HUMAN   PAIRED BOX PROTEIN PAX-4.
    17  CO9_FUGRU    COMPLEMENT COMPONENT C9 PRECURSOR.
    18  SYH_FUGRU    HISTIDYL-TRNA SYNTHETASE (EC 6.1.1.21) (HISTIDINE--TRNA LIGASE
    19  BGAL_ECOLI   BETA-GALACTOSIDASE (EC 3.2.1.23) (LACTASE).
    20  HD_FUGRU     HUNTINGTIN (HUNTINGTON'S DISEASE PROTEIN HOMOLOG) (HD PROTEIN)

        1  : 100K_RAT       1.277e+06 100368.6   0.750
             100 KDA PROTEIN (EC 6.3.2.-).
             Mw     Start  End    Seq
             1086.3 358    367    CATTPMAVHR
             1399.6 6      17     GDFLNYALSLMR
             2424.7 290    312    VFMEDVGAEPGSILTELGGFEVK
             2930.3 671    698    QLILASQSSDADAVFSAMDLAFAVDLCK
             3086.3 458    485    QLSIDTRPFRPASEGNPSDDPDPLPAHR
            *6082.8 817    870    QDLVYFWTSSPSLPASEEGFQPMPSITIRPPDDQHLPTANTCISR...
             No Match      2030.2 5423.0

        2  : SYV_FUGRU      3.791e+01 138217.9   0.375
             VALYL-TRNA SYNTHETASE (EC 6.1.1.9) (VALINE--TRNA LIGASE) (VALRS).
             Mw     Start  End    Seq
             1087.3 510    518    TVLHPFCDR
            *1399.6 1184   1195   VPVKVQEQDTEK
             2425.7 321    343    GETTLWNPGCDHAGIATQVVVEK
             No Match      2030.2 2930.3 3086.3 5423.0 6082.8

      [Part of this file has been deleted for brevity]

             No Match      1399.6 2030.2 2424.7 2930.3 3086.3 5423.0 6082.8

        13 : LACY_ECOLI     5.070e+00 46503.1    0.125
             LACTOSE PERMEASE (LACTOSE-PROTON SYMPORT).
             Mw     Start  End    Seq
            *3088.7 290    319    NALLLAGTIMSVRIIGSSFATSALEVVILK
             No Match      1086.2 1399.6 2030.2 2424.7 2930.3 5423.0 6082.8

        14 : FLAV_CLOAB     4.938e+00 17763.3    0.125
             FLAVODOXIN.
             Mw     Start  End    Seq
            *1085.3 17     26     VAKLIEEGVK
             No Match      1399.6 2030.2 2424.7 2930.3 3086.3 5423.0 6082.8

        15 : PAX3_HUMAN     3.494e+00 52967.4    0.125
             PAIRED BOX PROTEIN PAX-3 (HUP2).
             Mw     Start  End    Seq
            *2930.3 11     37     MMRPGPGQNYPRSGFPLEVSTPLGQGR
             No Match      1086.2 1399.6 2030.2 2424.7 3086.3 5423.0 6082.8

        16 : PAX4_HUMAN     3.488e+00 37832.6    0.125
             PAIRED BOX PROTEIN PAX-4.
             Mw     Start  End    Seq
            *2029.4 28     45     QQIVRLAVSGMRPCDISR
             No Match      1086.2 1399.6 2424.7 2930.3 3086.3 5423.0 6082.8

        17 : CO9_FUGRU      3.007e+00 65197.8    0.125
             COMPLEMENT COMPONENT C9 PRECURSOR.
             Mw     Start  End    Seq
            *2930.2 135    162    TCPPTVLDTNEQGRTAGYGINILGADPR
             No Match      1086.2 1399.6 2030.2 2424.7 3086.3 5423.0 6082.8

        18 : SYH_FUGRU      2.821e+00 57912.8    0.125
             HISTIDYL-TRNA SYNTHETASE (EC 6.1.1.21) (HISTIDINE--TRNA LIGASE) (HISRS).
             Mw     Start  End    Seq
             1087.2 124    133    DQGGELLSLR
             No Match      1399.6 2030.2 2424.7 2930.3 3086.3 5423.0 6082.8

        19 : BGAL_ECOLI     2.283e+00 116351.4   0.125
             BETA-GALACTOSIDASE (EC 3.2.1.23) (LACTASE).
             Mw     Start  End    Seq
             1400.6 600    611    QFCMNGLVFADR
             No Match      1086.2 2030.2 2424.7 2930.3 3086.3 5423.0 6082.8

        20 : HD_FUGRU       2.169e+00 348935.6   0.375
             HUNTINGTIN (HUNTINGTON'S DISEASE PROTEIN HOMOLOG) (HD PROTEIN).
             Mw     Start  End    Seq
            *1400.6 2899   2911   VDGEALVKLSVDR
            *2031.3 645    663    LLSASFLLTGQKNGLTPDR
            *3085.6 1573   1597   LVQYHQVLEMFILVLQQCHKENEDK
             No Match      1086.2 2424.7 2930.3 5423.0 6082.8

    The emowse search program outputs a listing file  containing the following information.

    Specified search parameters

            Includes all specified parameters such as digest reagent,
      specified error tolerance, specified intact protein Mw and Mw filter
      percentage. All supplied peptide Mws are listed in descending order,
      followed by the total number of entries scanned during the search.

    Short 'hit' listing

            The top 50 scoring proteins are then listed in descending
      order, details include the sequence ID name and brief text
     identifiers. Details are limited to the top 50 scores as a deliberate
      compromise to keep the result listings as short as possible.

    Detailed 'hit' listing

            The top 50 entries are then listed in more detail.The first
      line includes the sequence ID name, the emowse search score
      (typically a few powers of 10), the 'hit' protein Mw and finally
      an 'accuracy' ratio calculated by dividing 'hits' by the total
      number of peptides used for the search. This cannot be used to
      ascribe significance, but experience has shown that anything below
      0.3 is generally not worth pursuing. Line 2 is the protein
      text identifier. Subsequent lines list 'hit' and 'miss' peptides,
      with the appropriate start, end and corresponding sequences of correct
      peptide matches.  'miss' peptides are indicated by 'No match' at the
    start of the last line for that protein.

            Matching peptides marked with a '*' denote partially-cleaved
      fragments.

        Data files

    emowse reads in the pre-computed "Frequencies" data file
    'Efreqs.dat', (See the section "emowse Scoring scheme", above for
    a description of the frequency scores.)

        Notes

    None.

        References

    The paper describing the original 'MOWSE' program is:

    D.J.C.  Pappin, P.  Hojrup and A.J.  Bleasby 'Rapid Identification of
    Proteins by Peptide-Mass Fingerprinting'.  Current Biology (1993), vol
    3, 327-332.

    General references

    Barber M, Bordoli RS, Sedgwick RD, Tyler AN: Fast atom
    bombardment of solids: a new ion source for mass spectrometry. J
    Chem Soc Chem Commun 1981, 7: 325-327.

    Dole M, Mack LL, Hines RL, Mobley RC, Ferguson LD, Alice MB:
    Molecular beams of macroions. J Chem Phys 1968, 49:2240-2249.

    Meng CK, Mann M, Fenn JB: Of protons or proteins.  Z Phys D
    1988, 10: 361-368.

    Karas M, Hillenkamp F: Laser desorption ionisation of proteins
    with molecular masses exceeding 10,000 Daltons. Analytical
    Chemistry 1988, 60:2299-2301.

    Morris H, Panico M, Taylor GW: FAB-mapping of recombinant-DNA
    protein products. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 1983, 117:299-305.

    Morris H, Greer FM: Mass spectrometry of natural and
    recombinant proteins and glycoproteins. Trends in Biotechnology
    1988, 6:140-147.

    Weissenbach J, Gyapay G, Dib C, Vignal J, Morissette J,
    Millasseau P, Vaysseix G, Lathrop M: A second generation linkage
    map of the human genome. Nature 1992, 359:794-801.

    Adams MD, Kelley JM, Gocayne JD, Dubnick M, Polymeropoulos MH,
    Xiao H, Merril CR, Wu A, Olde B, Moreno RF, Kerlavage AR, McCombie
    WR, Venter JC: Complementary DNA sequencing: expressed sequence
    tags and human genome project. Science 1991, 252:1651-1656.

    Lehrach H, Drmanac R, Hoheisel J, Larin Z, Lennon G, Monaco AP,
    Nizetic D, Zehetner G, Poustka A: Hybridization fingerprinting in
    genome mapping and sequencing. In Genome Analysis Volume 1:
    Genetic and Physical Mapping. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press;
    1990:39-81 .

    Akrigg D, Bleasby AJ, Dix NIM, Findlay JBC, North ACT, Parry-
    Smith D, Wootton JC, Blundell TI, Gardner SP, Hayes F, Sternberg
    MJE, Thornton JM, Tickle IJ, Murray-Rust P: A protein
    sequence/structure database. Nature 1988, 335:745-746.

    Bleasby AJ, Wootton JC: Construction of validated, non-
    redundant composite protein databases. Protein Engineering 1990,
    3:153-159.

        Warnings

    None.

        Diagnostic Error Messages

    None.

        Exit status

    It always exits with status 0.

        Known bugs

    None.

    See also

    Program nameDescription
    backtranseqBack translate a protein sequence
    chargeProtein charge plot
    checktransReports STOP codons and ORF statistics of a protein
    compseqCounts the composition of dimer/trimer/etc words in a sequence
    freakResidue/base frequency table or plot
    iepCalculates the isoelectric point of a protein
    mwcontamShows molwts that match across a set of files
    mwfilterFilter noisy molwts from mass spec output
    octanolDisplays protein hydropathy
    pepinfoPlots simple amino acid properties in parallel
    pepstatsProtein statistics
    pepwindowDisplays protein hydropathy
    pepwindowallDisplays protein hydropathy of a set of sequences

        Author(s)

    Alan Bleasby (ableasby © hgmp.mrc.ac.uk)

    HGMP-RC, Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SB, UK

        History

    Written (Sept 2000) - author.

        Target users

    This program is intended to be used by everyone and everything, from naive users to embedded scripts.

        Comments