Charge-independent mass spectrometry of single virus capsids above 100MDa with nanomechanical resonators

Sergio Dominguez-Medina (1) , Shawn Fostner (2) , Martial Defoort (2) , Marc Sansa (2) , Ann-Kathrin Stark (1) , Mohammad Abdul Halim (1) , Emeline Vernhes (3) , Marc Gely (2) , Guillaume Jourdan (2) , Thomas Alava (2) , Pascale Boulanger (3) , Christophe Masselon (1) , Sébastien Hentz (2)

1 UGA [2016-2019] - Université Grenoble Alpes [2016-2019]
2 CEA-LETI - Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives - Laboratoire d'Electronique et de Technologie de l'Information
3 I2BC - Institut de Biologie Intégrative de la Cellule

Most technologies, including conventional mass spectrometry, struggle to measure the mass of particles in the MDa to GDa range. Although this mass range appears optimal for nanomechanical resonators, early nanomechanical-MS systems suffered from prohibitive sample loss, extended analysis time or inadequate resolution. Here, we report on a novel system architecture combining nebulization of the analytes from solution, their efficient transfer and focusing without relying on electromagnetic fields, and the mass measurements of individual particles using nanomechanical resonator arrays. This system determined the mass distribution of ~30 MDa polystyrene nanoparticles with a detection efficiency 6 orders of magnitude higher than previous nanomechanical-MS systems with ion guides, and successfully performed the highest molecular mass measurement to date with less than 1 picomole of bacteriophage T5 105 MDa viral capsids.

Domaines: Physique [physics]; Instrumentations et Détecteurs [physics.ins-det]

Sergio Dominguez-Medina, Shawn Fostner, Martial Defoort, Marc Sansa, Ann-Kathrin Stark, et al.. Charge-independent mass spectrometry of single virus capsids above 100MDa with nanomechanical resonators. 2018. ⟨hal-01833729⟩