Glycopeptide analysis, recent developments and applications.

Glycopeptide-based analysis is used to inform researchers about the glycans on one or more proteins. The method's key attractive feature is its ability to link glycosylation information to exact locations (glycosylation sites) on proteins. Numerous applications for glycopeptide analysis are known, and several examples are described herein. The techniques used to characterize glycopeptides are still emerging, and recently, research focused on facilitating aspects of glycopeptide analysis has advanced significantly in the areas of sample preparation, MS fragmentation, and automation of data analysis. These recent developments, described herein, provide the foundation for the growth of glycopeptide analysis as a blossoming field.