Mass Spectrometry in the Determination of Glycosylation Site and N-Glycan Structures of Human Placental Alkaline Phosphatase

Abstract

Alkaline phosphatase (AP) is a membrane-bound glycoprotein that is widely distributed in the plasma membrane of cells of various organs and also found in many organisms from bacteria to humans. The complete amino acid sequence and three-dimensional structure of human placental alkaline phosphatase have been reported. Based on the literature data, AP consists of two presumptive glycosylation sites, at Asn-144 and Asn-271. However, it only contains a single occupied N-linked glycosylation site and no occupied O-linked glycosylation sites. Hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC) has been primarily employed for the characterization of the glycan structures derived from glycoproteins. N-glycan structures from human placental alkaline phosphatase (PLAP) were investigated using HILIC-Orbitrap MS, and subsequent data processing and glycan assignment software. 16 structures including 10 sialylated N-glycans were identified from PLAP.