Dissociation techniques in mass spectrometry-based proteomics

The field of proteomics, the large-scale analysis of proteins, has undergone a huge expansion over the past decade. Mass spectrometry-based proteomics relies on the dissociation of peptide and/or protein ions to provide information on primary sequence and sites of post-translational modifications. Fragmentation techniques include collision-induced dissociation, electron capture dissociation and electron transfer dissociation. Here, we describe each of these techniques and their use in proteomics. The principles, advantages, limitations, and applications are discussed.