Sensitive N-Glycopeptide Profiling of Single and Rare Cells Using an Isobaric Labeling Strategy without Enrichment

Anal Chem. 2023 Aug 1;95(30):11326-11334. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.3c01392. Epub 2023 Jul 6.

Abstract

Single-cell omics is critical in revealing population heterogeneity, discovering unique features of individual cells, and identifying minority subpopulations of interest. As one of the major post-translational modifications, protein N-glycosylation plays crucial roles in various important biological processes. Elucidation of the variation in N-glycosylation patterns at single-cell resolution may largely facilitate the understanding of their key roles in the tumor microenvironment and immune therapy. However, comprehensive N-glycoproteome profiling for single cells has not been achieved due to the extremely limited sample amount and incompatibility with the available enrichment strategies. Here, we have developed an isobaric labeling-based carrier strategy for highly sensitive intact N-glycopeptide profiling for single cells or a small number of rare cells without enrichment. Isobaric labeling has unique multiplexing properties, by which the "total" signal from all channels triggers MS/MS fragmentation for N-glycopeptide identification, while the reporter ions provide quantitative information. In our strategy, a carrier channel using N-glycopeptides obtained from bulk-cell samples significantly improved the "total" signal of N-glycopeptides and, therefore, promoted the first quantitative analysis of averagely 260 N-glycopeptides from single HeLa cells. We further applied this strategy to study the regional heterogeneity of N-glycosylation of microglia in mouse brain and discovered region-specific N-glycoproteome patterns and cell subtypes. In conclusion, the glycocarrier strategy provides an attractive solution for sensitive and quantitative N-glycopeptide profiling of single/rare cells that cannot be enriched by traditional workflows.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Glycopeptides* / analysis
  • Glycosylation
  • HeLa Cells
  • Humans
  • Mice
  • Protein Processing, Post-Translational
  • Proteome / analysis
  • Tandem Mass Spectrometry*

Substances

  • Glycopeptides
  • Proteome