This work was supported by NSF/DBI-1255991 grant to IML.

1. Preparation of the Capillary Microreactor
<ol>
	<li>Cut the 100 &#181;m internal diameter (ID) x 360 &#181;m outer diameter (OD) capillary to a length of 7-8 cm, and the 20 &#181;m ID x 90 &#181;m OD capillary to 3-5 cm with the glass capillary cleaver; verify under the microscope that both capillary ends have a clean, straight cut, without any protruding burrs.</li>
	<li>Insert the 20 &#181;m ID x 90 &#181;m OD capillary into one end of the 100 &#181;m ID x 360 &#181;m OD capillary, for a length of ~6 mm; in case o...

<ol>
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A. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Microfluidic+Liquid+Chromatography+System+for+Proteomic+Applications+and+Biomarker+Screening.">Microfluidic Liquid Chromatography System for Proteomic Applications and Biomarker Screening.</a> Anal. Chem. 78 (15), 5513-5524 (2006).</li><li>Lazar, I. M., Karger, B. L. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Multiple+Open-Channel+Electroosmotic+Pumping+System+for+Microfluidic+Sample+Handling,&amp;#34.">Multiple Open-Channel Electroosmotic Pumping System for Microfluidic Sample Handling,&amp;#34.</a> Anal. Chem. 74 (24), 6259-6268 (2002).</li><li>Lazar, I. M., Rockwood, A. L., Lee, E. D., Sin, J. C. H., Lee, M. 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The microreactor described in this work provides an easy-to-implement experimental setup for performing enzymatic digestion of proteins to enable MS analysis and identification in less than 30 min. The distinct advantages of this system, in comparison to conventional approaches, include simplicity, speed, low reagent consumption and low costs. In particular, there is no need for expensive immobilized trypsin beads and cartridges. The preparation of the capillary microreactor is straightforward (Figure 1A...

The identification and characterization of purified proteins is frequently achieved by using MS techniques. The protein is digested with an enzyme and its peptides are further analyzed by MS by using a simple infusion experimental setup. Proteolytic digestion is necessary for generating small peptide fragments that fall in the useful mass range of most MS analyzers, and that can be easily fragmented through low energy collision induced dissociation to generate amino acid sequence information. For isolated proteins or simple protein mixtures, there is no further need for chromatographic separation of peptides prior to MS detection. A mixture of 25-50 peptides can be easily analyzed by infusing the sample with a syringe pump directly in the MS ion source.
The mass spectrometer can perform the analysis and confirm the sequence of a protein within a short time-frame. With modern data acquisition methods, this process can be accomplished within a few minutes or even seconds. The limiting factor in completing the entire process on a short time-scale is the proteolytic digestion step. Typically, this is performed over a few hours (or O/N), in solution, at 37 &#186;C, using substrate:enzyme ratios of (50-100):1. To reduce the enzymatic digestion time to minutes or seconds, immobilized enzyme microreactors, in the form of microfluidic reactors or commercially available cartridges, have been described.1-6 Typically, the enzyme is immobilized by covalent, non-covalent/physical adsorption, complex formation or encapsulation,3,6 the enhanced efficiency of the enzymatic process being enabled by the large surface-to-volume and enzyme-to-substrate ratios. Additional advantages of immobilized reactors include reduced autolysis and interference from the enzyme in MS analysis, improved enzyme stability and reusability. A variety of approaches, using glass or polymeric microfabricated devices have been described, using enzymes immobilized on magnetic beads by antibody-antigen interactions,7,8 entrapped in gold nanoparticle networks,9 encapsulated in titania-alumina sol-gels10 and nanozeolites,11 or captured through Ni-NTA or His-Tag complex formation.6 Alternatively, open-tubular capillaries with immobilized enzymes have been developed, as well.12 Moreover, enhanced proteolytic cleavage has been demonstrated by using controlled microwave irradiation13 or pressure-assisted or pressure cycling technology (PCT) for reducing the reaction times to 30-120 min.14
Despite the multiple advantages of immobilized enzyme reactors, the costs of commercial cartridges is high, the availability of microfluidic devices for routine use is limited, and the use of microwave or PCT technologies results in need for additional instrumentation. The goal of this work was to develop a method that circumvents these disadvantages, and that can be easily implemented in every laboratory to empower researchers with a simple and effective approach for performing enzymatic cleavage of proteins in preparation for MS analysis within minutes. The approach relies on the use of hydrophobic, C18-particles which are pre-loaded in a capillary or microfluidic device, and the adsorption of the protein(s) of interest on these particles followed by enzymatic digestion during the infusion of the enzyme over the packed bed and captured protein(s). In this approach, the substrate is immobilized through non-covalent interactions, and the enzyme is infused over the immobilized protein. The proteolytic digestion efficiency is increased by the large particle surface areas that expose the protein for enzymatic processing, reduced distances and diffusion times to and from the surface of particles, improved mass transfer, no covalent attachment that may affect the activity of the enzyme, ability to quickly evaluate combinations of different enzymes, disposability, and multiplexing if the process is executed in a microfluidic format. This approach is demonstrated with the use of a mixture of standard proteins and trypsin-the most commonly used enzyme for proteolytic digestion prior to ESI-MS detection. The mass spectrometer used for detection in this study was a linear trap quadrupole (LTQ) instrument.

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>Ion trap ESI-MS</td>
			<td>Thermo Electron</td>
			<td>LTQ</td>
			<td>The LTQ mass spectrometer is used for acquiring tandem MS data</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>XYZ stage</td>
			<td>Newport</td>
			<td>Multiple parts</td>
			<td>The home-built XYZ stage is used to adapt the commercial LTQ nano-ESI source to receive input from various sample delivery systems</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Stereo microscope</td>
			<td>Edmund optics</td>
			<td>G81-278</td>
			<td>The microscope is used to observe the microreactor packing process</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Analytical balance/Metler</td>
			<td>VWR</td>
			<td>46600-204</td>
			<td>The balance is used to weigh the protein samples</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Ultrasonic bath/Branson</td>
			<td>VWR</td>
			<td>33995-540</td>
			<td>The sonic bath is used for mixing/homogenizing the samples and dispersing the C18 particle slurry</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Syringe pump 22</td>
			<td>Harvard Apparatus</td>
			<td>552222</td>
			<td>The micropump is used for loading, rinsing and eluting the sample and the enzyme on and from the packed capillary microreactor</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Milli-Q ultrapure water system&#160;</td>
			<td>EMD Millipore</td>
			<td>ZD5311595&#160;</td>
			<td>The MilliQ water system is used to prepare purified DI water</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Pipettor/Eppendorf (1000 &#181;L)</td>
			<td>VWR</td>
			<td>53513-410</td>
			<td>The pipettor is used to measure small volumes of sample solutions</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Pipettor/Eppendorf (100 &#181;L)</td>
			<td>VWR</td>
			<td>53513-406</td>
			<td>The pipettor is used to measure small volumes of sample solutions</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Pipettor/Eppendorf (10 &#181;L)</td>
			<td>VWR</td>
			<td>53513-402</td>
			<td>The pipettor is used to measure small volumes of sample solutions</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Fused silica capillary (100 &#181;m ID x 360 &#181;m OD)</td>
			<td>Polymicro Technologies</td>
			<td>TSP100375</td>
			<td>This capillary is used for the fabrication of the microreactor</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Fused silica capillary (20 &#181;m ID x 100 &#181;m OD)</td>
			<td>Polymicro Technologies</td>
			<td>TSP020090</td>
			<td>This capillary is used for the fabrication of the ESI emitter</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Fused silica capillary (50 &#181;m ID x 360 &#181;m OD)</td>
			<td>Polymicro Technologies</td>
			<td>TSP050375</td>
			<td>This capillary is used to transfer the samples and the eluent from the syringe pump to the capillary microreactor</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Glass capillary cleaver</td>
			<td>Supelco</td>
			<td>23740-U</td>
			<td>This is a tool for cutting fused silica capillaries at the desired length</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Glue</td>
			<td>Eclectic Products</td>
			<td>E6000 Craft</td>
			<td>This glue is used for securing the ESI emitter into the capillary microreactor or the microfluidic chip</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Epoxy glue</td>
			<td>Epo-Tek</td>
			<td>353NDT</td>
			<td>This glue is used to seal the microfluidic inlet hole through which the C18 particles are loaded</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Reversed phase C18 particles (5 &#181;m)</td>
			<td>Agilent Technologies</td>
			<td>Zorbax 300SB-C18</td>
			<td>These are C18 particles on which the proteins are adsorbed; the particles were extracted from a 4 mm x 20 cm C18 LC column from Agilent</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Syringe/glass (250 &#181;L)</td>
			<td>Hamilton</td>
			<td>81130-1725RN</td>
			<td>The glass syringes are used to load the C18 particle slurry in the capillary microreactor and to deliver the sample and eluents to the microreactor</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Internal reducing PEEK Union (1/16&#8221; to 1/32&#8221;)</td>
			<td>Valco</td>
			<td>ZRU1.5FPK</td>
			<td>This union is used to connect the 250 &#181;L syringe to the microreactor for loading the 5 &#181;m particle slurry</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Stainless steel union (1/16&#8221;)</td>
			<td>Valco</td>
			<td>ZU1XC</td>
			<td>The stainless steel union is used to connect the glass syringe needle to the infusion capillary</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Microvolume PEEK Tee connector (1/32&#8221;)</td>
			<td>Valco</td>
			<td>MT.5XCPK</td>
			<td>The Peek tee is used to connect the sample transfer capillary to the capillary microreactor; on its side arm, it enables the insertion of the Pt wire</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Tee connector (light weight)</td>
			<td>Valco</td>
			<td>C-NTXFPK</td>
			<td>This Tee connector is used to apply ESI voltage to the microfluidic chip through the sample transfer line</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Pt wire (0.404 mm)</td>
			<td>VWR</td>
			<td>66260-126</td>
			<td>The Pt wire provides electrical connection for ESI generation and is connected to the mass spectrometer ESI power supply</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>PTFE tubing (1/16&#8221; OD)</td>
			<td>Valco</td>
			<td>TTF115-10FT</td>
			<td>The Teflon tubing is used to enable an air-tight connection between the syringe needle and the stainless steel union&#160;</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>PEEK tubing (0.015&#8220; ID x 1/16&#8221; OD)</td>
			<td>Upchurch Scientific</td>
			<td>1565</td>
			<td>The Peek tubing is used as a sleeve to enable an air-tight connection between the stainless steel union and the 50 &#181;m ID transfer capillary</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>PEEK tubing (0.015&#8221; ID x 1/32&#8221; OD)</td>
			<td>Valco</td>
			<td>TPK.515-25</td>
			<td>The Peek tubing is used as a sleeve to enable a leak-free connection between the fused silica capillaries and the Peek Tee</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Clean-cut polymer tubing cutter</td>
			<td>Valco</td>
			<td>JR-797</td>
			<td>This cutter is used to pre-cut the 1/16&#8221; and 1/32&#8217; Peek polymer tubing that is used as sleeve for leak-free connections in pieces of ~4-5 cm in length</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Amber vial (2 mL)</td>
			<td>Agilent&#160;</td>
			<td>HP-5183-2069</td>
			<td>The vials are used to prepare sample solutions and the C18 particle slurry&#160;</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Amber vial (4 mL)</td>
			<td>VWR</td>
			<td>66011-948</td>
			<td>The vials are used to prepare sample solutions</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Polypropylene tube (15 mL)</td>
			<td>Fisher</td>
			<td>12-565-286D</td>
			<td>The vials are used to prepare buffer solutions</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Cylinder (100 mL)</td>
			<td>VWR</td>
			<td>24710-463</td>
			<td>The cylinder is used to measure volumes of solvent</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Cylinder (10 mL)</td>
			<td>VWR</td>
			<td>24710-441</td>
			<td>The cylinder is used to measure volumes of solvent</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Pipette tips (1000 &#181;L)</td>
			<td>VWR</td>
			<td>83007-386</td>
			<td>The pipette tips are used to measure small volumes of sample solutions</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Pipette tips (100 &#181;L)</td>
			<td>VWR</td>
			<td>53503-781</td>
			<td>The pipette tips are used to measure small volumes of sample solutions</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Pipette tips (10 &#181;L)</td>
			<td>VWR</td>
			<td>53511-681</td>
			<td>The pipette tips are used to measure small volumes of sample solutions</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Glass substrates</td>
			<td>Nanofilm</td>
			<td>B270 white crown, 3&#8221; x 3&#8221;</td>
			<td>These are glass substrates for microchip fabrication</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Male nut fitting (1/16&#8221;)</td>
			<td>Upchurch</td>
			<td>P203X</td>
			<td>This fitting is used for connecting transfer capillaries to the microfluidic chip</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Nanoport assembly</td>
			<td>Upchurch</td>
			<td>N-122H</td>
			<td>This fitting is used for connecting transfer capillaries to the microfluidic chip</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Reagents</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Protein standards</td>
			<td>Sigma</td>
			<td>Multiple #</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Acetonitrile, HPLC grade</td>
			<td>Fisher</td>
			<td>A955</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Methanol, HPLC grade</td>
			<td>Fisher</td>
			<td>A452</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Isopropanol, HPLC grade</td>
			<td>Sigma</td>
			<td>650447</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Trifluoroacetic acid</td>
			<td>Sigma</td>
			<td>302031</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Ammonium bicarbonate</td>
			<td>Aldrich</td>
			<td>A6141</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Trypsin, sequencing grade</td>
			<td>Promega</td>
			<td>V5111</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

fast enzymatic processing of proteins for ms detection with a flow-through microreactor

The vast majority of mass spectrometry (MS)-based protein analysis methods involve an enzymatic digestion step prior to detection, typically with trypsin. This step is necessary for the generation of small molecular weight peptides, generally with MW &#60; 3,000-4,000 Da, that fall within the effective scan range of mass spectrometry instrumentation. Conventional protocols involve O/N enzymatic digestion at 37 &#186;C. Recent advances have led to the development of a variety of strategies, typically involving the use of a microreactor with immobilized enzymes or of a range of complementary physical processes that reduce the time necessary for proteolytic digestion to a few minutes (e.g., microwave or high-pressure). In this work, we describe a simple and cost-effective approach that can be implemented in any laboratory for achieving fast enzymatic digestion of a protein. The protein (or protein mixture) is adsorbed on C18-bonded reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) silica particles preloaded in a capillary column, and trypsin in aqueous buffer is infused over the particles for a short period of time. To enable on-line MS detection, the tryptic peptides are eluted with a solvent system with increased organic content directly in the MS ion source. This approach avoids the use of high-priced immobilized enzyme particles and does not necessitate any aid for completing the process. Protein digestion and complete sample analysis can be accomplished in less than ~3 min and ~30 min, respectively.

A representative result of a proteolytic digestion process performed simultaneously on a mixture of proteins, with the above-described microreactors (Figures 1 or 2), is provided in Table 1. The table comprises the unique peptide sequences that identify a particular protein, the cross correlation score (Xcorr) (i.e., a score that characterizes the quality of the experimental-to-theoretical match for the corresponding tandem mass spectrum), the nu...

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Fast Enzymatic Processing of Proteins for MS Detection with a Flow-through Microreactor

A quick protocol for proteolytic digestion with an in-house built flow-through tryptic microreactor coupled to an electrospray ionization (ESI) mass spectrometer is presented. The fabrication of the microreactor, the experimental setup and the data acquisition process are described.

The vast majority of mass spectrometry (MS)-based protein analysis methods involve an enzymatic digestion step prior to detection, typically with trypsin. ...

The overall goal of this protocol is to describe the fabrication of a flow-through tryptic mircoreactor that performs fast enzymatic digestion of proteins for enabling protein identification with an electrospray ionization mass spectrometer. The method can help illustrate the amino acid sequence of isolated and purified proteins to support downstream characterization of structure and function. The main advantage of this protocol is that it is fast, cost-effective, and prone for integration into workflows that make use of microfabricated platforms.To begin, use a glass capillary cleaver to cut the larger glass capillary tube to a length of seven to eight centimeters, and the smaller one to a length of three to five centimeters. Use a microscope to verify that both capillary ends have a clean, straight cut, without any protruding burrs. Insert the smaller capillary about six millimeters into one end of the larger one.Then, use a Q-tip to apply a small droplet of glue around the junction of the capillaries, and let the glue cure overnight at room temperature. Next, cut the inserted capillary to a length of about 10 to 15 millimeters. This end will act as the electrospray ionization emitter.Insert the opposite end of the larger diameter capillary into a 1/32-inch PEEK tube that has been pre-cut between four and five centimeters in length and connected to a PEEK union. Then, insert and tighten the five centimeter-long piece of 1/16 PTFE tubing into the opposite end of the union. In a clean, dry two milliliter glass file, weight out four milligrams of C18 particles and then add 0.5 milliliters of isopropanol.Close the vial. Place it in ultrasonicator bath and sonicate to disperse the particles evenly in the solution. Next, use a 250 microliter syringe to draw up 200 microliters of the C18 slurry.Insert the syringe into the 1/16-inch PTFE tubing and dispense the slurry slowly into the large capillary. Observe under the microscope as the capillary fills with particles, until two to three millimeters of particle packing has been achieved. The smaller capillary tube retains these particles in the microreactor through a keystone effect.Finally, rinse the microreactor with 50 microliters of a 50-to-50 solution of water and acetonitrile, followed by 50 microliters of a solution containing 49 microliters of water, mixed with one microliter of acetonitrile. Disconnect the capillary microreactor from the PEEK union and connect it to a PEEK-T. Then, insert a two centimeter-long platinum wire, insulated with a 1/32-inch PEEK sleeve to provide a leak-free connection into the side arm of the PEEK-T.Connect a half a meter-long sample transfer capillary to the opposite end of the PEEK-T. Use a 1/32-inch PEEK sleeve to provide a leak-free connection. Secure the PEEK-T on the XYZ stage.And position the electrospray ionization emitter about two millimeters away from the mass spectrometer inlet capillary. Then, connect the platinum wire to the electrospray ionization power supply source of the mass spectrometer. Also, connect the opposite end of the sample transfer capillary to the stainless steel union, using a 1/16-inch PEEK sleeve to provide a leak-free connection.Next, connect a four to five centimeter-long piece of 1/16-inch-long PTFE tubing to the opposite end of the stainless steel union. Input the tandem MS data acquisition parameters as described in the accompanying text protocol into the software package that controls the MS instrument. Save them as a method file to ready the setup for performing the analysis.The LTQ MS system is fitted with a modified ESI source that includes a home-built XYZ stage, which enables the interfacing of mass spectrometer to the various sample input approaches. Load a 250 microliter syringe with an aqueous solution of 50 millimolar bicarbonate dissolved in 2%of acetonitrile. Then, connect the syringe to the microreactor, and place it under the syringe pump.Rinse the microreactor and two microliters per minute for five minutes, to prepare it for analysis. Then, load the protein sample of interest into a 250 microliter syringe and infuse the sample solution at two microliters per minute for five minutes. Next, place a 250 microliter syringe loaded with a five micromolar trypsin solution under the syringe pump, and infuse over the absorbed protein on the microreactor at two microliters per minute for one to three minutes.It's critical that one freshly thaws and prepares the trypsin solution before each experiment. This will ensure that the protolytic enzyme retains its activity and its operational pH of the microreactor, which is a pH of about 8. Load another 250 microliter syringe with an aqueous solution consisting of 0%1%of trifluoroacetic acid added to 2%acetonitrile.Use this solution to quench the proteolytic digestion process by rinsing the microreactor at two microliters per minute for five minutes. Then, switch to a syringe filled with 01%trifluoroacetic acid added to 50%acetonitrile, and turn on the MS Data Acquisition Process in the Electrospray Ionization voltage to about 2000 volts. Use the acidified solution to start eluting the protein digest from the microreactor at 300 nanoliters per minute for 20 to 30 minutes.Acquire mass spec data using the data acquisition parameters provided in the accompanying text protocol. Process the LTQ MS raw files using a minimally redundant protein database by first uploading the raw data in the search engine. Then, set the parent and fragment ion mass tolerances to two and one daltons respectively, and use only fully tryptic fragments with up to two missed cleavages for the search.In addition, set the high and medium confidence false discovery rates to 1%and 3%respectively, and do not allow for post-translational modifications, unless specifically looking for particular modifications. Finally, filter the data to select only the high confidence peptide matches. Shown here is a mass spectrum comprised of tryptic peptides that were generated from a protein mixture that was subjected to proteolysis in the microreactor.These labels represent the most intense tryptic peptide ions and provide their sequence and corresponding protein identifier. This microreactor provides an easy-to-implement experiment set up for performing enzymatic digestion of proteins and enables a mass analysis and identification in less than 30 minutes. While attempting this procedure, it is important to remember that preserving the cleanliness of the vials and instrumentation that come into contact with solutions is critical to avoiding sample contamination.Following this procedure, other mass spectrometry data acquisition methods can be used to enable a better characterization of the generative peptides and answer additional questions related to structure of proteins. After its development, this technique paved the way for researchers in the field of proteonomics to develop faster protocols for the analysis of proteins and explore the development of novel microphalytic platforms that enable the high throughput exploration of biological samples. This technique is limited to the analysis of rather simple protein mixtures that generate 25 to 50 peptides.These peptides can be analyzed by simple infusion experiments and do not necessitate liquid chromatographics separation prior to MS analysis. Don't forget that working with organic solvents can be extremely hazardous, and precautions such as avoiding open flames should always be taken while performing this procedure.

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7.8K Views.  Virginia Tech. The overall goal of this protocol is to describe the fabrication of a flow-through tryptic mircoreactor that performs fast enzymatic digestion of proteins for enabling protein identification with an electrospray ionization mass spectrometer. The method can help illustrate the amino acid sequence of isolated and purified proteins to support downstream characterization of structure and function. The main advantage of this protocol is that it is fast, cost-effective, and prone for integration in...