The invention provides methods for isolating a modified peptide from a
complex mixture of peptides, the method comprising the steps of: (a)
obtaining a proteinaceous preparation from an organism, wherein the
preparation comprises modified peptides from two or more different
proteins; (b) contacting the preparation with at least one immobilized
modification-specific antibody; and (c) isolating at least one modified
peptide specifically bound by the immobilized modification-specific
antibody in step (b). The method may further comprise the step of (d)
characterizing the modified peptide isolated in step (c) by mass
spectrometry (MS), tandem mass spectrometry (MS--MS), and/or MS.sup.3
analysis, or the step of (e) utilizing a search program to substantially
match the spectra obtained for the modified peptide during the
characterization of step (d) with the spectra for a known peptide
sequence, thereby identifying the parent protein(s) of the modified
peptide. Also provided are an immunoaffinity isolation device comprising
a modification-specific antibody, and antibodies against novel UFD1 and
PTN6 phosphorylation sites.