Poster abstracts

Poster number 24 submitted by Siwei Li

Automating the Analysis of LC-MS data from Isotopically Labeled RNA

Siwei Li (Department of Chemistry, University of Cincinnati), Patrick A. Limbach (Department of Chemistry, University of Cincinnati)

Abstract:
Recently we developed CARD, a method for the Comparative Analysis of RNA Digests. By differential labeling of two samples using 16O and 18O, any RNA digests that are identical in the two samples will appear as doublets in mass spectral analysis separated by 2 Da. More significantly, differences between the two samples are represented by singlet peaks. For many applications, the differences between two samples will be minor meaning that much of the mass spectral data will be doublets with only a few singlets. The challenge in data analysis is to rapidly identify and characterize these singlets. To address this challenge, we introduce an Excel interface program based on Visual Basic for Application (VBA) for analysis of CARD data. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) test data were obtained from previous studies. The automated processing steps in this program drastically reduce the need for manual processing of LC-MS data by applying filters to remove hundreds of doublets and noise in the mass spectra. Three example CARD datasets have been used in program development, and results from the application of this program to these datasets will be presented. Further algorithm development and optimization is on-going.

Keywords: Comparative analysis of RNA, LC-MS, Algorithm