An improved protocol for N-glycosylation analysis of gel-separated sialylated glycoproteins by MALDI-TOF/TOF

PLoS One. 2010 Nov 29;5(11):e15096. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0015096.

Abstract

Different glycoforms of some proteins have been identified as differential spots for certain diseases in 2-DE, indicating disease-related glycosylation changes. It is routine to determine the site-specific glycosylation of nonsialylated N-glycoproteins from a single gel spot, but some obstacles still exist in analyzing sialylated glycoproteins due to the lability and higher detection limit of acid glycans in MALDI-TOF/TOF analysis. Thus, we present an improved protocol here. Tryptic glycopeptides were separated and subjected to MALDI-TOF/TOF analysis, resulting in the identification of site-specific glycosylation of high-intensity glycopeptides. Sequential deglycosylation and desialylation were used to improve the identification of glycosylation sites and desialylated glycans. The site-specific glycosylation of large glycopeptides and low-intensity glycopeptides was deduced based on the masses of glycopeptides, deglycosylated peptides and desialylated glycans. By applying it to 2-DE separated human serum, the difference of N-glycosylation was successfully determined for α1-antitrypsin between different gel spots.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Binding Sites
  • Electrophoresis, Gel, Two-Dimensional / methods*
  • Glycopeptides / analysis*
  • Glycoproteins / analysis*
  • Glycosylation
  • Humans
  • Polysaccharides / metabolism
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization / methods*
  • Transferrin / metabolism
  • alpha 1-Antitrypsin / metabolism

Substances

  • Glycopeptides
  • Glycoproteins
  • Polysaccharides
  • Transferrin
  • alpha 1-Antitrypsin