The GlycoFilter: A Simple and Comprehensive Sample Preparation Platform for Proteomics, N-Glycomics and Glycosylation Site Assignment

Current strategies to study N-glycoproteins in complex samples are often discrete, focusing on either N-glycans or N-glycosites enriched by sugar-based techniques. In this study we report a simple and rapid sample preparation platform, the GlycoFilter, which allows a comprehensive characterization of N-glycans, N-glycosites, and proteins in a single workflow. Both PNGase F catalyzed de-N-glycosylation and trypsin digestions are accelerated by microwave irradiation and performed sequentially in a single spin filter. Both N-glycans and peptides (including de-N-glycosylated peptides) are separately collected by filtration. The condition to effectively collect complex and heterogeneous N-glycans was established on model glycoproteins, bovine ribonuclease B, bovine fetuin, and human serum IgG. With this platform, the N-glycome, N-glycoproteome and proteome of human urine and plasma were characterized. Overall, a total of 865 and 295 N-glycosites were identified from three pairs of urine and plasma samples, respectively. Many sites were defined unambiguously as partially occupied by the detection of their nonsugar-modified peptides (128 from urine and 61 from plasma), demonstrating that partial occupancy of N-glycosylation occurs frequently. Given the likely high prevalence and variability of partial occupancy, glycoprotein quantification based exclusively on deglycosylated peptides may lead to inaccurate quantification.