The dynamic nature of intrinsically disordered peptides makes them a challenge to characterize by solution-phase techniques. In order to gain insight into the relation between the disordered state and the environment, we explore the conformational space of the N-terminal 1-5 fragment of bradykinin (BK[1-5](2+)) in the gas phase by combining drift tube ion mobility, cold-ion spectroscopy, and first-principles simulations. The ion-mobility distribution of BK[1-5](2+) consists of two well-separated peaks. We demonstrate that the conformations within the peak with larger cross-section are kinetically trapped, while the more compact peak contains low-energy structures. This is a result of cis-trans isomerization of the two prolyl-peptide bonds in BK[1-5](2+). Density-functional theory calculations reveal that the compact structures have two very different geometries with cis-trans and trans-cis backbone conformations. Using the experimental CCSs to guide the conformational search, we find that the kinetically trapped species have a trans-trans configuration. This is consistent with NMR measurements performed in a solution, which show that 82% of the molecules adopt a trans-trans configuration and behave as a random coil.

Health state transitions are reflected in characteristic changes in the molecular composition of biofluids. Detecting these changes in parallel, across a broad spectrum of molecular species, could contribute to the detection of abnormal physiologies. Fingerprinting of biofluids by infrared vibrational spectroscopy offers that capacity. Whether its potential for health monitoring can indeed be exploited critically depends on how stable infrared molecular fingerprints (IMFs) of individuals prove to be over time. Here we report a proof-of-concept study that addresses this question. Using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, we have fingerprinted blood serum and plasma samples from 31 healthy, non-symptomatic individuals, who were sampled up to 13 times over a period of 7 weeks and again after 6 months. The measurements were performed directly on liquid serum and plasma samples, yielding a time- and cost-effective workflow and a high degree of reproducibility. The resulting IMFs were found to be highly stable over clinically relevant time scales. Single measurements yielded a multiplicity of person-specific spectral markers, allowing individual molecular phenotypes to be detected and followed over time. This previously unknown temporal stability of individual biochemical fingerprints forms the basis for future applications of blood-based infrared spectral fingerprinting as a multiomics-based mode of health monitoring.

Understanding the relation between the gas-phase structure of biological molecules and their solution-phase structure is important when attempting to use gas-phase techniques to address biologically relevant questions. Directly after electrospray ionization, molecules can be kinetically trapped in a state that retains some "memory" of its conformation in solution and is separated from the lowest-energy gas-phase structure by barriers on the potential energy surface. In order to identify and characterize kinetically trapped structures, we have explored the conformational space of triply protonated bradykinin in the gas phase by combining field-asymmetric ion mobility spectrometry (FAIMS) with cold ion spectroscopy. We isolate three distinct conformational families and characterize them by recording their UV-photofragment spectra and vibrational spectra. Annealing of the initial conformational distribution produced by electrospray reveals that one of the conformational families is kinetically trapped, while two others are stable, gas-phase structures. We compare our results to previously published results obtained using drift-tube ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) and propose a correspondence between the conformational families separated by FAIMS and those by IMS.