Table 5

Comparison of the depletion and enrichment approaches to combinatorial peptidomics


Depletion approach
Enrichment approach

1. Individual steps per each "filtering" stage
1 step process, i.e. bind to beads (beads discarded)
3 step process, i.e. bind to beads, wash and elute
2. Number of combinations using 6 amino acid filters
63
63
3. Range of suitable peptide lengths
Longer peptides require less "filtering" stages (i.e. 10 or more amino acid residues preferred)
Shorter peptides require less "filtering" stages (i.e. 10 or less amino acid residues preferred)
4. Complexity of peptide mixtures
Decreased
Decreased
5. Amino acid compositional complexity of the remaining peptides
Decreased (by the number of "filters" used)
Not changed (20 amino acids)
6. Quantitative analysis
A single-stage depletion is more straightforward and quantitative than a triple-stage enrichment
Enrichment approach is less straightforward and robust than the depletion
7. Scaling up
Possible (larger "filters" or consecutive stages)
Possible (larger "filters" or parallel reactions)
8. Scaling down
Possible (low fmol level MS sensitivity requires high pmol filter binding capacities)
Especially suitable : low fmol level MS sensitivity requires fmol binding capacities
9A. Limitations (overloading)
Large binding capacity of the "filters" is crucial – overloading will allow all peptides to pass the "filter"
Overloading of the "filters" is not an issue, excess of sample may be applied
9A. Limitations (incompletely digestion)
Products of incomplete digestion will be mostly eliminated
Products of incomplete digestion will be mostly retained and may interfere with the downstream purification and analysis steps
10. Nano-applications
Problematic due to limitation (see above) – excess of binding sites required to maintain efficient separation. Suitable for micro-fluidic applications
Suitable for nano-applications, since smaller number of binding sites required (compared to depletion strategy)

Soloviev et al. Journal of Nanobiotechnology 2003 1:4   doi:10.1186/1477-3155-1-4