Separation of one-pot procedure released O-glycans as 1-phenyl-3-methyl-5-pyrazolone derivatives by hydrophilic interaction and reversed-phase liquid chromatography followed by identification using electrospray mass spectrometry and tandem mass spectromet

Qualitative and quantitative analysis of naturally-occurring complex glycans is essential for glycomics, which focuses on the studies of structure–function correlations of saccharides. We previously reported a one-pot procedure for the non-reductive release from glycoproteins and in situ labeling with 1-phenyl-3-methyl-5-pyrazolone (PMP) of O-glycans (C. Wang et al., Proteomics 11 (2011) 4229). Here we describe an HPLC-based O-glycan analytical strategy that combines a range of techniques including the one-pot procedure, independent separation by hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) and reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) and identification by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) and tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS). The complex mixtures of both neutral and sialylated O-glycans as bis-PMP derivatives released from glycoproteins using the one-pot procedure could be well separated by HILIC based on their size or by RP-HPLC depending on the type of linkage and their resulting three-dimensional (3D) structure, and their structure could be characterized by the ESI-MS and MS/MS analysis of the eluted glycan fractions. The validity of the current strategy was confirmed by the analysis of O-glycans released by the one-pot procedure from some standard glycoproteins, including porcine stomach mucin (PSM), bovine submaxillary mucin (BSM) and bovine fetuin. The applicability of the current method to complex biological samples was also demonstrated by the analysis of mucin-type glycans from fetal bovine serum (FBS) and frog egg–jelly coat (FEC). This strategy, a powerful analytical tool that features the combination of different techniques, is useful for the qualitative and quantitative O-glycan analysis of more complex biological samples and has a potential for constructing an O-glycan analysis and structure database.

► The current strategy is powerful due to the combination of different techniques.
► PMP derivatives of O-glycans are separated by HILIC depending on their size.
► PMP derivatives of O-glycans are separated by RP-HPLC based on their 3D-structure.
► This strategy has advantages over conventional O-glycan analysis methods.
► This strategy could be utilized for constructing an O-glycan analysis database.