Mass spectrometric identification of N-linked glycopeptides using lectin-mediated affinity capture and glycosylation site-specific stable isotope tagging

Nat Protoc. 2006;1(6):3019-27. doi: 10.1038/nprot.2006.444.

Abstract

Protein post-translational modifications (PTMs), such as glycosylation and phosphorylation, are crucial for various signaling and regulatory events, and are therefore an important objective of proteomics research. We describe here a protocol for isotope-coded glycosylation site-specific tagging (IGOT), a method for the large-scale identification of N-linked glycoproteins from complex biological samples. The steps of this approach are: (1) lectin column-mediated affinity capture of glycopeptides generated by protease digestion of protein mixtures; (2) purification of the enriched glycopeptides by hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HIC); (3) peptide-N-glycanase-mediated incorporation of a stable isotope tag, 18O18O, specifically at the N-glycosylation site; and (4) identification of 18O-tagged peptides by liquid chromatography-coupled mass spectrometry (LC/MS)-based proteomics technology. The application of this protocol to the characterization of N-linked glycoproteins from crude extracts of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans or mouse liver provides a list of hundreds to a thousand glycoproteins and their sites of glycosylation within a week.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Chromatography, Liquid / methods*
  • Glycopeptides / analysis*
  • Glycosylation
  • Isotope Labeling / methods*
  • Lectins / chemistry
  • Research Design
  • Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Substances

  • Glycopeptides
  • Lectins