Mass spectrometric identification of individual proteins in a complex mixture would be impossible in the absence of large-scale protein sequence databases.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Large-scale protein sequence databases are essential for identifying individual proteins in a complex mixture by mass spectrometry. The MS data can be compared to the database to identify the proteins by matching the peptide sequences obtained from the mass spectrometer to those in the database. Without such databases, it would be difficult to assign confident identities to the detected proteins.

Mass Spectrometric Identification of Individual Proteins in a Complex Mixture