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Enhancing glycan isomer separations with metal ions and positive and negative polarity ion mobility spectrometry-mass spectrometry analyses

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Abstract

Glycomics has become an increasingly important field of research since glycans play critical roles in biology processes ranging from molecular recognition and signaling to cellular communication. Glycans often conjugate with other biomolecules, such as proteins and lipids, and alter their properties and functions, so glycan characterization is essential for understanding the effects they have on cellular systems. However, the analysis of glycans is extremely difficult due to their complexity and structural diversity (i.e., the number and identity of monomer units, and configuration of their glycosidic linkages and connectivities). In this work, we coupled ion mobility spectrometry with mass spectrometry (IMS-MS) to characterize glycan standards and biologically important isomers of synthetic αGal-containing O-glycans including glycotopes of the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, which is the causative agent of Chagas disease. IMS-MS results showed significant differences for the glycan structural isomers when analyzed in positive and negative polarity and complexed with different metal cations. These results suggest that specific metal ions or ion polarities could be used to target and baseline separate glycan isomers of interest with IMS-MS.

Glycan isomers, such as fructose and glucose, show distinct separations in positive and negative ion mode

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Acknowledgments

Portions of this research were supported by grants from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences of the NIH (R01ES022190) (ESB), NIH grant R21CA199744 (KT), NIH grants R21AI079618 and R21AI115451 (ICA and KM), Robert J. Kleberg Jr. and Helen C. Kleberg Foundation grant (ICA and KM), Bridges to the Doctorate scholarship (NSF grants HRD-1139929) (NSS), Biomolecule Analysis Core Facility at UTEP, NIHMD grant G12MD007592, National Institute of General Medical Sciences grants P41 GM103493 (RDS) and P41 GM104603 (CEC), the Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program, and the Microbes in Transition (MinT) Initiative at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. This research utilized capabilities developed by the Pan-omics program (funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Biological and Environmental Research Genome Sciences Program). This work was performed in the W. R. Wiley Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL), a DOE national scientific user facility at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). PNNL is operated by Battelle for the DOE under contract DE-AC05-76RL01830.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Earth and Biological Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 902 Battelle Blvd, P.O. Box 999, MSIN K8-98, Richland, WA, 99352, USA

      Xueyun Zheng, Ryan S. Renslow, Daniel J. Orton, Keqi Tang, Richard D. Smith & Erin S. Baker

    2. Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Anschutz Medical Campus, University of Colorado, 1380 Lawrence Street, Denver, CO, 80204, USA

      Xing Zhang

    3. Department of Chemistry and Border Biomedical Research Center, University of Texas at El Paso, 500 West University Avenue, El Paso, TX, 79968, USA

      Nathaniel S. Schocker, Jamal Khamsi, Roger A. Ashmus & Katja Michael

    4. Department of Biological Sciences and Border Biomedical Research Center, University of Texas at El Paso, 500 West University Avenue, El Paso, TX, 79968, USA

      Igor C. Almeida

    5. Center for Biomedical Mass Spectrometry, Boston University School of Medicine, 670 Albany Street, Boston, MA, 02118, USA

      Catherine E. Costello

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    1. Xueyun Zheng
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    Correspondence to Katja Michael or Erin S. Baker.

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    Published in the topical collection Glycomics, Glycoproteomics and Allied Topics with guest editors Yehia Mechref and David Muddiman.

    Xueyun Zheng and Xing Zhang contributed equally to this work.

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    Zheng, X., Zhang, X., Schocker, N.S. et al. Enhancing glycan isomer separations with metal ions and positive and negative polarity ion mobility spectrometry-mass spectrometry analyses. Anal Bioanal Chem 409, 467–476 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-016-9866-4

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