Generation of Asparagine-Linked Glycan Structure Databases and their Use

Asparagine linked glycans (N-glycans) are important in biological processes. Yet, their structural complexity and lack of databases hinder progress in glycomics and glycobiology. We present a way for in silico generation of very large N-glycan structure databases and their use in high throughput composition and primary structure determination of N-glycans attached to peptides, based on CID (collision induced dissociation) MS/MS (tandem mass spectrometric data). The database and the integrated search engine is called Glyquest and is available to the glycomics community. (J Am Soc Mass Spectrom 2009, 20, 1739-1742) (C) 2009 American Society for Mass Spectrometry