The nature of protein glycosylation renders cellular glycomics a very challenging task in having to deal with all the disparate glycans carried on membrane glycoproteins. Rapid mapping by mass spectrometry analysis provides only a coarse sketch of the glycomic complexity based primarily on glycosyl compositions, whereby the missing high-resolution structural details require a combination of multi-mode separations and multi-stages of induced fragmentation to gain sufficiently discriminative precision, often at the expenses of throughput and sensitivity. Given the available technology and foreseeable advances in the near future, homing in on resolving the terminal fucosylated, sialylated and/or sulfated structural units, or glycotopes, maybe a more pragmatic and ultimately more rewarding approach to gain insights into myriad biological processes mediated by these terminal coding units carried on important glycoproteins, to be decoded by a host of endogenous glycan-binding proteins and antibodies. A broad overview of recent technical advances and limitations in cellular glycomics is first provided as a backdrop to the propounded glycotope-centric approach based on advanced nanoLC-MS2/MS3 analysis of permethylated glycans. To prioritize analytical focus on the more tangible glycotopes is akin to first identifying the eye-catching and characteristic-defining flowers and fruits of the glyco-forest, to see the forest for the trees. It has the best prospects of attaining the much-needed balance in sensitivity, structural precision and analytical throughput to match advances in other omics.
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February 2021
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On the implications of the copper co-factor in lytic polysaccharide monooxygenase. A brief overview of structure, oxygen activation and application as bioindustrial process tools for decomposition of lignocellulose. Further information can be found in the review by Ipsen and colleagues (pages 531–540). Image provided by Katja Johansen.
Review Article|
January 25 2021
A mass spectrometry-based glycotope-centric cellular glycomics is the more fruitful way forward to see the forest for the trees
Kay-Hooi Khoo
Institute of Biological Chemistry, Academia Sinica, 128, Academia Road Sec 2, Nankang, Taipei 115, Taiwan
Correspondence: K.-H. Khoo ([email protected])
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Publisher: Portland Press Ltd
Received:
October 13 2020
Revision Received:
December 18 2020
Accepted:
December 21 2020
Online ISSN: 1470-8752
Print ISSN: 0300-5127
© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Portland Press Limited on behalf of the Biochemical Society
2021
Biochem Soc Trans (2021) 49 (1): 55–69.
Article history
Received:
October 13 2020
Revision Received:
December 18 2020
Accepted:
December 21 2020
Citation
Kay-Hooi Khoo; A mass spectrometry-based glycotope-centric cellular glycomics is the more fruitful way forward to see the forest for the trees. Biochem Soc Trans 26 February 2021; 49 (1): 55–69. doi: https://doi.org/10.1042/BST20190861
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