A streamlined pipeline for multiplexed quantitative site-specific N-glycoproteomics

Nat Commun. 2020 Oct 19;11(1):5268. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-19052-w.

Abstract

Regulation of protein N-glycosylation is essential in human cells. However, large-scale, accurate, and site-specific quantification of glycosylation is still technically challenging. We here introduce SugarQuant, an integrated mass spectrometry-based pipeline comprising protein aggregation capture (PAC)-based sample preparation, multi-notch MS3 acquisition (Glyco-SPS-MS3) and a data-processing tool (GlycoBinder) that enables confident identification and quantification of intact glycopeptides in complex biological samples. PAC significantly reduces sample-handling time without compromising sensitivity. Glyco-SPS-MS3 combines high-resolution MS2 and MS3 scans, resulting in enhanced reporter signals of isobaric mass tags, improved detection of N-glycopeptide fragments, and lowered interference in multiplexed quantification. GlycoBinder enables streamlined processing of Glyco-SPS-MS3 data, followed by a two-step database search, which increases the identification rates of glycopeptides by 22% compared with conventional strategies. We apply SugarQuant to identify and quantify more than 5,000 unique glycoforms in Burkitt's lymphoma cells, and determine site-specific glycosylation changes that occurred upon inhibition of fucosylation at high confidence.

Publication types

  • Evaluation Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Burkitt Lymphoma / chemistry
  • Burkitt Lymphoma / metabolism
  • Glycopeptides / chemistry*
  • Glycosylation
  • Humans
  • Proteomics / methods*
  • Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Substances

  • Glycopeptides