Proteome-Wide Analysis of N-Glycosylation Stoichiometry Using SWATH Technology

N-glycosylation is a crucial post-translational modification (PTM) and plays essential roles in biological processes. Several methods have been developed for the relative quantification of N-glycosylation at the proteome scale. However, the proportion of N-glycosylated forms in a total protein population, or the "N-glycosylation stoichiometry", varies greatly among proteins or cellular states and is frequently missing due to the lack of robust technologies. In the present study, we developed a data-independent acquisition (DIA)-based strategy that enabled the in-depth measurement of N-glycosylation stoichiometry. A spectral library containing 3,509 N-glycosylated peptides and 17,525 fragment ions from human embryonic kidney cells 293 (HEK-293) cells was established from which the stoichiometries of 1,186 N-glycosites were calculated. These stoichiometric values differ greatly among different glycosites, and many glycosites tend to occur with low stoichiometry. We then investigated the N-glycosylation changes induced by tunicamycin in HEK-293 cells and by a temperature shift in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. Quantifying the proteome, N-glycoproteome, and N-glycosylation stoichiometry demonstrated that the regulation of N-glycosylation is primarily achieved by adjusting the N-glycosylation stoichiometry. In total, the stoichiometries of 2,274 glycosites were determined in the current study. Notably, our approach can be applied to other biological systems and other types of PTMs.