Mass Spectrometric Analysis of Protein Glycosylation

Glycosylation is one of the most important posttranslational modifications of proteins and is involved in all kinds of biological and physiological processes. Deciphering the structural information of glycoproteins is essential to understanding the function of glycoproteins. High-throughput protein sequencing, site-specific glycosylation identification, and overall glycosylation analysis are possible with the development of state-of-the-art mass spectrometry technology. Here, the current strategies for mass-spectrometry-based glycoprotein characterization are briefly reviewed.