Peptide-mass fingerprint
Encyclopedia
In bio-informatics, a peptide-mass fingerprint or peptide-mass map is a mass spectrum
of a mixture of peptide
s that comes from a digested protein
being analyzed. The mass spectrum serves as a fingerprint in the sense that it is a pattern that can serve to identify the protein.
Mass spectrum
A mass spectrum is an intensity vs. m/z plot representing a chemical analysis. Hence, the mass spectrum of a sample is a pattern representing the distribution of ions by mass in a sample. It is a histogram usually acquired using an instrument called a mass spectrometer...
of a mixture of peptide
Peptide
Peptides are short polymers of amino acid monomers linked by peptide bonds. They are distinguished from proteins on the basis of size, typically containing less than 50 monomer units. The shortest peptides are dipeptides, consisting of two amino acids joined by a single peptide bond...
s that comes from a digested protein
Protein
Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...
being analyzed. The mass spectrum serves as a fingerprint in the sense that it is a pattern that can serve to identify the protein.