Botulinum neurotoxins (BoNT) are divided into seven toxinotypes based on their immunological properties and each toxinotype contains several subtypes according to their amino acid sequences. Here, we designed a mass spectrometry method able to identify BoNT/A subtypes in complex matrices including crude culture supernatants, food, and environmental samples. Peptides from BoNT light chain (L) specific to the subtypes BoNT/A1 to A3 and BoNT/A5 to A8 were identified. The method consists of an immunocapture step with antibodies specific to BoNT/A L chains followed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) on a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer (QqQ) in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. BoNT/A subtypes were correctly identified in culture supernatants and in tap water or orange juice samples with a limit of detection of 20 to 150 mouse lethal doses (MLD) and with a lower sensitivity in serum samples.

The aim of this work was to develop a reliable and efficient analytical method to characterise and differentiate saxitoxin analogues (STX), including sulphated (gonyautoxins, GTX) and non-sulphated analogues. For this purpose, hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) was used to separate sulphated analogues. We also resorted to ion mobility spectrometry to differentiate the STX analogues because this technique adds a new dimension of separation based on ion gas phase conformation. Positive and negative ionisation modes were used for gonyautoxins while positive ionisation mode was used for non-sulphated analogues. Subsequently, the coupling of these three complementary techniques, HILIC-IM-MS, permitted the separation and identification of STX analogues; isomer differentiation was achieved in HILIC dimension while non-sulphated analogues were separated in the IM-MS dimension. Additional structural characteristics concerning the conformation of STXs could be obtained using IM-MS measurements. Thus, the collision cross sections (CCS) of STXs are reported for the first time in the positive ionisation mode. These experimental CCSs correlated well with the calculated CCS values using the trajectory method.

Gonyautoxins are potent natural neurotoxic analogues of saxitoxin. Due to their biological activity and submilligram lethal dose for man, fast and efficient methods are required for their characterization. Recent advances in ion mobility-mass spectrometry (IM-MS) showed that differentiation of isomers could be achieved using specific experimental conditions involving particular buffer gases as well as cationic species. In this work, IM-MS experiments were carried out using alkali metal ions (Met = Li+, Na+ or K+) and different buffer gases (N2, N2O and CO2) to improve the differentiation of gonyautoxin isomers. The separation of [GTX + Met]+ ion was achieved for GTX2/3 and GTX1/4 from their Na or K adducts. For dcGTX2/3, the ion mobility separation can only be obtained with peak to peak resolution (Rp-p) close to 1 from the [GTXs + Met − H2O]+ species. To understand the gas phase conformation of the different diastereomers, density functional theory (DFT) calculations were performed. IM separation, and collision cross sections on [GTXs + Met]+ and [GTXs + Met − H2O]+ are reported for the first time.

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