Bioactive Glycopeptides Project

Glycosylation is one of the most common post-translational modifications of proteins. Glycoprotein analyses have been significantly hindered by the complicated nature of the glycan structures.  The aim of the Bioactive Glycopeptides Project is to analyze protein glycosylation using a bottom-up glycoproteomic technique via the digestion of glycoproteins with immobilized enzymes.  This process generates a mixture of glycopeptides that facilitates the assignment of attachment sites on the protein and glycan composition after mass spectrometric (MS) analysis. The long term aim of the project is to address the concept of glycan micro-heterogeneity in the occupancy of different glycosites of milk glycoproteins, which will help toward a better understanding of the biological activities of these unique glycopeptides.