Oral Presentation 23rd Annual Lorne Proteomics Symposium 2018

Synthetic glycopeptides: versatile tools for glycoproteomics (#38)

Kathirvel Alagesan 1 , Hannes Hinneburg 2 , Sana Khan Khilji 3 , Daniel Varón Silva 4 , Daniel Kolarich 1
  1. Griffith University, Gold Coast, QUEENSLAND, Australia
  2. Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW , Australia
  3. Department of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy , Free University Berlin, Berlin, Germany
  4. Department of Biomolecular systems, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Potsdam, Germany

Detailed knowledge on glycan composition and their site-specific distribution within a specific glycoprotein is crucial for understanding their complex biological functions. Reliable glycopeptide identification providing concomitant details on both, the glycan and peptide moieties still remains challenging, also because glycopeptides are highly heterogeneous molecules. Defined, synthetic glycopeptides offer a unique opportunity to investigate and validate glycoproteomics sample preparation and analytical workflows and develop novel methods.

We have developed a novel, simplified approach to purify and produce a panel of glycosylated Fmoc-protected Asparagine amino acids carrying N-linked glycans with various structures. These building blocks were subsequently used in standard solid phase glycopeptide synthesis to generate a synthetic glycopeptide library containing >100 glycopeptides and their unglycosylated counterparts.

First, a novel, simple, fast and cost-effective technique for HILIC (hydrophilic interaction chromatography) based glycopeptide enrichment ("Drop-HILIC") was developed. Drop-HILIC was used to systematically evaluate the mobile phase effect on ZIC-HILIC (zwitterionic type HILIC) glycopeptide enrichment. We found that glycopeptide enrichment efficiency primarily relied on the applied mobile phase, but we also found that even minimal glycopeptide structure/composition differences already affected ZIC-HILIC enrichment [1].

Glycopeptide ionisation efficiency was investigated using CaptiveSpray Nanobooster™. This allows overcoming possible glycopeptide enrichment biases [1] and reduced glycopeptide ionisation efficiacy [2]. The use of the CaptiveSpray Nanobooster™ itself already resulted in ~5-fold increase in glycopeptide signal intensities compared to conventional CaptiveSpray nano ESI ionisation without any changes to the sample preparation workflow or MS hardware.

Finally, a panel of synthetic glycopeptides was used to evaluate how glycan size and glycosylation site location within a peptide influence ETD fragmentation efficiency and successful MASCOT assignment. The number and quality of assignable peptide backbone fragments was significantly depending on glycan size, the position of the modification within a peptide sequence and the individual precursor m/z.

 

  1. Alagesan, K., S.K. Khilji, and D. Kolarich, It is all about the solvent: on the importance of the mobile phase for ZIC-HILIC glycopeptide enrichment. Anal Bioanal Chem, 2017. 409(2): p. 529-538.
  2. Stavenhagen, K., et al., Quantitative mapping of glycoprotein micro-heterogeneity and macro-heterogeneity: an evaluation of mass spectrometry signal strengths using synthetic peptides and glycopeptides. J Mass Spectrom, 2013. 48(6): 627-39.