Peptide sequence information derived by partial acid hydrolysis and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry.

Partial acid hydrolysis of purified peptides followed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry of the resulting peptide mixture is a fast and simple procedure to confirm the identity of a peptide tentatively identified by its determined molecular weight. Often partial amino acid sequence information can be obtained directly. The sensitivity of the technique is in the high-femtomole to low-picomole range.