Nonribosomal peptides have a wide range of biological and medical applications. Their identification by tandem mass spectrometry remains a challenging task. A new open-source de novo peptide identification engine CycloBranch was developed and successfully applied in identification or detailed characterization of 11 linear, cyclic, branched, and branch-cyclic peptides. CycloBranch is based on annotated building block databases the size of which is defined by the user according to ribosomal or nonribosomal peptide origin. The current number of involved nonisobaric and isobaric building blocks is 287 and 521, respectively. Contrary to all other peptide sequencing tools utilizing either peptide libraries or peptide fragment libraries, CycloBranch represents a true de novo sequencing engine developed for accurate mass spectrometric data. It is a stand-alone and cross-platform application with a graphical and user-friendly interface; it supports mzML, mzXML, mgf, txt, and baf file formats and can be run in parallel on multiple threads. It can be downloaded for free from http://​ms.​biomed.​cas.​cz/​cyclobranch/​ , where the User’s manual and video tutorials can be found.

ᅟ

Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis results in 450,000 deaths per year and complicates cancer chemotherapy, transplantations and the treatment of other immunosuppressed patients. Using a rat model of experimental aspergillosis, the fungal siderophores ferricrocin and triacetylfusarinine C were identified as markers of aspergillosis and quantified in urine, serum and lung tissues. Biomarkers were analyzed by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry using a 12T SolariX Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FTICR) mass spectrometer. The limits of detection of the ferri-forms of triacetylfusarinine C and ferricrocin in the rat serum were 0.28 and 0.36 ng/mL, respectively. In the rat urine the respective limits of detection achieved 0.02 and 0.03 ng/mL. In the sera of infected animals, triacetylfusarinine C was not detected but ferricrocin concentration fluctuated in the 3–32 ng/mL range. Notably, the mean concentrations of triacetylfusarinine C and ferricrocin in the rat urine were 0.37 and 0.63 μg/mL, respectively. The MALDI FTICR mass spectrometry imaging illustrated the actual microbial ferricrocin distribution in the lung tissues and resolved the false-positive results obtained by the light microscopy and histological staining. Ferricrocin and triacetylfusarinine C detection in urine represents an innovative non-invasive indication of Aspergillus infection in a host.