First Community-Wide, Comparative Cross-Linking Mass Spectrometry Study

The
number of publications in the field of chemical cross-linking
combined with mass spectrometry (XL-MS) to derive constraints for
protein three-dimensional structure modeling and to probe protein–protein
interactions has increased during the last years. As the technique
is now becoming routine for in vitro and in vivo applications in proteomics
and structural biology there is a pressing need to define protocols
as well as data analysis and reporting formats. Such consensus formats
should become accepted in the field and be shown to lead to reproducible
results. This first, community-based harmonization study on XL-MS
is based on the results of 32 groups participating worldwide. The
aim of this paper is to summarize the status quo of XL-MS and to compare
and evaluate existing cross-linking strategies. Our study therefore
builds the framework for
establishing best practice guidelines to conduct cross-linking experiments,
perform data analysis, and define reporting formats with the ultimate
goal of assisting scientists to generate accurate and reproducible
XL-MS results.