Protein glycosylation analysis by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry

Liquid chromatography (LC)–mass spectrometry (MS) has developed into an invaluable technology for the analysis of protein glycosylation. This review focuses on the recent developments in LC and combinations thereof with MS for this field of research. Recently introduced methods for the structural analysis of released glycans (native or derivatised) as well as glycopeptides, on normal phase, reverse phase and graphitized carbon LC columns with online MS(/MS) will be reviewed. Performed on nano-scale or capillary-scale, these LC–MS methods operate at femtomole sensitivity and support the further integration of glycosylation analysis in proteomics methodology.